This round 8 clash sees the ACT Brumbies host the Free State Cheetahs @ 7:40pm at Bruce Stadium.
The overall standings ladder shows this as a 2nd v 12th battle with the home team coming off the bye eleven competition points higher, but this game by no means is a forgone conclusion and an upset could be on the cards.
Form
Both Teams haven’t registered a win in a few weeks, the Brumbies last won against the Reds in Round 5, whereas the Cheetahs last won all the way back in Round 3 in Bloemfontein against the Blues.
The Brumbies are coming off the bye this week and should be rejuvenated. The previous week they lost away from home to the Waratahs, outplayed in a brutal encounter. The Brumbies, usually better on defence, missed 28 tackles (Folau probably responsible for half of those) and conceded three tries. The Brumbies currently sit on a ten-match winning streak at home.
The Cheetahs, minus key Springboks, lost last week four tries to three away from home to the Chiefs, a team the Brumbies also failed to beat on the road. The Cheetahs collectively missed 31 tackles and 30 the week before to concede eleven tries on their two-game tour of New Zealand.
The Cheetahs have won one (Sharks in Round 1 this year) of their last 13 games on the road and are on a six match losing streak when visiting Australia and New Zealand.
Head to Head
The Brumbies and the Cheetahs have played ten times with the respective home team only failing to win once. Nine of these games have resulted in more than 47 points being scored. Last year the Brumbies traveled to Bloemfontein and went down 21 – 27. The Brumbies have won all six games they have played against the Cheetahs at home including the 2013 qualifying final by a missed sideline conversion shown in the video below.
The Teams
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Scott Sio | 1 | Danie Mienie |
| Stephen Moore | 2 | Torsten van Jaarsveld |
| Ben Alexander | 3 | Coenie Oosthuizen |
| Blake Enever | 4 | Carl Wegner |
| Sam Carter | 5 | Francois Uys (c) |
| Scott Fardy | 6 | Heinrich Brussow |
| David Pocock | 7 | Boom Prinsloo |
| Jarrad Butler | 8 | Willie Britz |
| Nic White | 9 | Tian Meyer |
| Matt Toomua | 10 | Joe Pietersen |
| Joseph Tomane | 11 | Raymond Rhule |
| Christian Lealiifano | 12 | Francois Venter |
| Henry Speight | 13 | Johann Sadie |
| James Dargaville | 14 | Cornal Hendricks |
| Robbie Coleman | 15 | Willie le Roux |
| Reserves | ||
| Josh Mann-Rea | 16 | Stephan Coetzee |
| Allan Alaalatoa | 17 | BG Uys |
| Ruan Smith | 18 | Maks van Dyk |
| Jordan Smiler | 19 | Steven Sykes |
| Ita Vaea | 20 | Tienie Burger |
| Michael Dowsett | 21 | Sarel Pretorius |
| Nigel Ah Wong | 22 | Willie du Plessis |
| Lausii Taliauli | 23 | Rayno Benjamin |
| Location: | Saturday 4 April 2015 | |
| Kickoff: | Sat 4 Apr 19:40 | |
| Referee: | Ben O’Keeffe | |
| Assistant Ref 1: | Ed Martin | |
| Assistant Ref 2: | James Leckie | |
| TMO : | Peter Marshall |
Brumbies
After getting through the first weeks of the competition relatively unscathed the Brumbies finally have to make some big changes.
The biggest talking point is starting Speight at outside centre for the injured Kuridrani (seven weeks, AC Joint). Dargaville comes into the side from the bench to takes Speight’s vacant wing spot.
The Brumbies also see changes to the pack with Enever replacing Arnold (one week, minor back injury). Pocock is returning to the starting and open side, pushing Butler to number 8 and Vaea on the bench.
Cheetahs
The Cheetahs’ Willie le Roux, Johann Sadie, Francois Venter, Tian Meyer, Carl Wegner, Torsten van Jaarsveld, Coenie Oosthuizen and Danie Mienie all return to the starting line up.
le Roux and Oosthuizen were rested last week due to the world cup year and subsequent agreement with Super Rugby teams and SA Rugby. Former Waratah scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius, who missed the first two games of the tour to attend the birth of his second son in Bloemfontein will be playing from the bench.
Key Match-ups
Coleman v le Roux
Although similar style players le Roux is far more established. His creativity and ability to tear the game open in both broken and structured play make him a nightmare for opposition defenders. le Roux poses a dangerous step that allows him to break the line without losing as much forward momentum as a tackle bust meaning his line breaks to try conversion rate sits him up there with the best in world rugby.
Coleman will need to channel his “inner le Roux” on attack and also pick his positions on defence wisely as he may be fielding some chip kicks.
Alexander v Oosthuizen
I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on in scrums, but these are two internationals going at it tight head though not directly against each other.
The scrum is always an important part of the game and both will be looking to get their team the best attacking platform as well as a few shots at goals, piggy backs up field and if possible, a gift seven-pointer. Both these players are also handy around the field and I wouldn’t be surprised to see either on the score sheet by the end of the night.
Semi-Serious Prediction
Despite the fact some Brumbies have missed some training sessions this week with their coach and twelve players attending Wallaby meetings in Sydney, and the much greater distraction of the Brumbies being able to play Google Maps Pac-Man on the vast roundabouts of Canberra, I’ve got to back the Brumbies on this one, if only for historical statistics mentioned above.
From an Australian rugby perspective, the Cheetahs are similar to the Force or Rebels in their ability to match up with their more fancied teams, but not be able to do so for the whole 80. They played gallantly last week against the Chiefs and still lost by ten (down by one at the half); they lead the Crusaders into the break only to capitulate in the second half.
The Brumbies have had to make some changes and that will no doubt stifle their attack early on, but coming off the bye and having a weapon of an 8 come on late (that rhymes) just furthers my thoughts that the Brumbies will be better over the whole 80 and close this game out.
After a close half-time score – Brumbies by 15
.
