Lions import to face Bulls
Lions import Etienne Oosthuizen will make his Brumbies debut on Saturday when he starts at lock against the Bulls at Canberra Stadium.
The hulking South African native, who has revealed his intentions to one day represent the Wallabies, was recruited from the Lions in Johannesburg at the end of the 2012 Super season.
He made three appearances for the Lions' Super Rugby squad as well as a season with the franchise's Currie Cup team.
Oosthuizen is one of four personnel changes to the Brumbies starting side, with Ben Alexander returning to tight head prop for Scott Sio, Scott Fardy at lock for Sam Carter and Nic White to scrumhalf for Ian Prior.
An addition to those players inclusion in the starting side, Peter Kimlin moves back to blindside flank, captain Ben Mowen to No.8 and Fotu Auelua to the bench.
Prior and Sio will fill spots on the bench while Sam Carter has been left out of the matchday 22.
On the bench Andrew Smith also makes his first appearance since the last time the Brumbies played at Canberra Stadium against the Waratahs in round four.
Dynamo fullback Jesse Mogg will be given an extra week to recover from a shoulder bang he suffered playing against the Sharks in Durban.
Head coach Jake White said the team had recovered well after the trip back from Africa and was now ready to take on the Bulls at home.
"It's fantastic to be handing Etienne his first Brumbies jersey, I'm sure there will be many more to follow throughout his career," White said.
"He has trained hard and made plenty of progress since arriving from the Lions and I'm excited for him to be starting this new chapter in his life and his career.
"Nic [White] will give us another kicking option this weekend, while Benny A was good in the scrum once he came on against the Stormers. Jesse [Mogg] wasn't quite where we need him to be for this weekend, so we've decided against rushing him back.
"The Bulls have publicly said that they'd consider two wins on tour as a success and they have only secured one at this stage. With that said, there's no doubt they will throw everything at us to head back top Pretoria on a high."
The corresponding fixture in 2012 was a cliff hanger, with the Brumbies outscoring the Bulls five tries to two but still losing the match, 34-36. Morné Steyn booted seven penalties that evening.
Brumbies: 15 Robbie Coleman, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben Mowen (captain), 7 George Smith, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Etienne Oosthuizen, 4 Scott Fardy, 3 Dan Palmer, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements: 16 Siliva Siliva, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Fotu Auelua, 19 Colby Faingaa, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Andrew Smith, 22 Clyde Rathbone.
Date: Saturday, March 30
Venue: Canberra Stadium, Canberra
Kick-off: 19.40 (10.40 SA time; 08.40 GMT)
Referee: Jonathon White (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Rohan Hoffman (Australia)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Australia)
