The return of winger Henry Speight and former Wallaby flank George Smith are the only two changes made to the Brumbies matchday 22 to tackle the Waratahs.
Speight recovered from a niggling rib injury he sustained in the Brumbies' opening round victory over the Reds and 32-year-old Smith will make his first appearance for the Brumbies since 2010 off the bench.
In Speight's place Joe Tomane moves to the bench, with Tevita Kuridrani dropping out of the matchday squad. As the Australian Conference's top try-scorer in 2012, Speight will be looking to add to his total against the Waratahs after scoring two five-pointers from as many games last year.
Since 2001, Smith has lost just one game against the Waratahs at Canberra Stadium. That was way back in 2005 and while he hasn't been involved in this fixture since 2010, head coach Jake White was confident his newest player would want to keep that record intact.
"To have a player of George's quality wanting to come to the Brumbies says a lot about our organisation and where we are heading," White said.
"George is a player who aligns himself with quality brands and winning teams. George is a proven winner. He's won big games here in Australia and overseas so we are looking to use that experience and attitude here at the Brumbies.
"In the context of the season this is a big game for us. It's great to have Henry back in the starting side after he missed the game against the Rebels. Henry scores a lot of tries and we will need him to be at his best on Saturday night."
Brumbies: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Andrew Smith, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Clyde Rathbone, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben Mowen (c), 7 David Pocock, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Scott Fardy, 3 Dan Palmer, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements: 16 Siliva Siliva, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Fotu Auelua, 19 George Smith, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Robbie Coleman, 22 Joe Tomane.
Date: Saturday, 9 March
Venue: Canberra Stadium
Kick-off: 19:40 local (08:40 GMT)
Referee: Jonathon White (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)
Television match official: Peter Marshall (Australia)
Comments
georgesmith says...
G. Smith is the best. Brumbies 100 Tahs 000. G. Smith vs M.Hooper. OMG.
Posted 11:56 07th March 2013