The Brumbies kick off their two-match tour of South Africa and Argentina with a stop in Cape Town to take on the Stormers on Saturday night.
Both sides are last start winners with the Brumbies knocking off the Lions in Canberra to give their season some life and the Stormers ended their four match swing through Australaisa with a big win over the Rebels in Melbourne and ending their own three match losing streak.
The Brumbies have a relatively settled side with only one change to their starting side but it is a big one at that. It was expected that David Pocock would be recalled after the calf injury that has plagued him since round 4 but it is still causing him problems and will miss this game.
Locky McCaffrey who has been arguably their best forward in 2019 has also been ruled out with a knee injury so that means rookie Jahrome Brown is given the start in the seven jersey so that means a reshuffle in the backrow with Tom Cusack to six and Pete Samu to the back of the scrum.
The Stormers will be brimming with confidence after knocking off the high-flying Rebels, even without a host of their big names including Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Siya Kolisi. Their game plan to disrupt the Rebels at the breakdown and win the collisions to deny them the front foot ball they require worked a treat and will obviously be looking for more of the same in this match.
Du Toit is back this week and Kolisi is starting from the bench so that will be important towards the back end of the game with his experience crucial to keep them going for the full 80 minutes.
They will be missing their usual 10/12 axis of Jean-Luc du Plessis and Damian de Allende who are both rested for this game but gives the chance for Joshua Stander and Dan Kriel so that could be one area the Brumbies target.
Key match up
Tom Cusack v. Pieter-Steph du Toit
Tom Cusack has been solid filling in for Pocock in 2019 and reverts back to blindside for this game and his task is no easier coming up against a rested du Toit. Expect these two to be heavily involved around the breakdown.
Prediction
With the Brumbies season sitting where they are, every match from now on is critical if they want to make the Top 8. The Stormers winning last week turned a horrendous tour into a not so bad tour and that will give them a massive hit of confidence. They might be without some names but being back at home and welcoming back Du Toit and Kolisi will be enough for them, but in a close one.
TEAMS
[one_third last=”no”]
BRUMBIES
1 Scott Sio
2 Folau Fainga’a
3 Allan Alaalatoa
4 Rory Arnold
5 Sam Carter
6 Tom Cusack
7 Jahrome Brown
8 Pete Samu
9 Joe Powell
10 Christian Lealiifano
11 Toni Pulu
12 Tom Wright
13 Tevita Kuridrani
14 Henry Speight
15 Tom Banks
Replacements
16 Josh Mann-Rea
17 James Slipper
18 Leslie Leulua’ialii-Makin
19 Darcy Swain
20 Murray Douglas
21 Matt Lucas
22 Wharenui Hawera
23 Andy Muirhead
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”no”]
Stormers
1 Steven Kitshoff
2 Bongi Mbonambi
3 Wilco Louw
4 Salmaan Moerat
5 Cobus Wiese
6 Ernst van Rhyn
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit
8 Kobus van Dyk
9 Herschel Jantjies
10 Joshua Stander
11 Dillyn Lleyds
12 Dan Kriel
13 Ruhan Nel
14 Sergeal Peterson
15 Damian Willemse
Replacements
16 Scarra Ntubeni
17 Corne Fourie
18 Neethling Fouche
19 Johan du Toit
20 Siya Kolisi
21 Justin Phillips
22 JJ Engelbrecht
23 Seabel Senatla
[/one_third]
[one_third last=”yes”]
MATCH DEETS
Kick off: 11:05pm AEST
Newlands
Saturday 20 April
Referee: Nick Briant
AR1: Glen Jackson
AR2: Federico Anselmi
TMO: Marius Jonker[/one_third]
