Brumbies unchanged for Blues

 

On the bench, JP Smith reclaims his spot at prop, with Allan Alaalatoa dropping out of the squad.

 

Given the Blues strength up front and unpredictability in the backs, the game promises to be a massive battle which will test the Brumbies across the park.

 

Brumbies and Wallabies prop Scott Sio, said his side would need to be on top its game to make and impact on Friday.

 

“One of the points that came out of our meetings was that six of their eight forwards are All Blacks,” Sio said.

 

"They have a wealth of experience and you can’t take that away from them.

 

“If you have a look at their games, they haven’t lost a game by more than 12 points all year. 

 

"They’ve been in every match and we’re expecting them to really throw themselves into the game on Friday.”

 

The last time these two sides met in Super Rugby was in April 2014, when the Brumbies managed to keep the Blues try-less to win 26-9.

 

Brumbies: 15 Robbie Coleman, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Henry Speight, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 James Dargaville, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Jarrad Butler, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Blake Enever, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore (captain), 1 Scott Sio.

Replacements: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Jordan Smiler, 20 Ita Vaea, 21 Michael Dowsett, 22 Lausii Taliauli, 23 Nigel Ah Wong.

 

Date: Friday, April 10

Venue: Eden Park, Auckland

Kick-off: 19.35 (17.35 AEST; 07.35 GMT)

Referee: Andrew Lees (Australia)

Assistant referees: Nick Briant (New Zealand), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)

TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)