Christian Lealiifano hits 150 for Brumbies
Brumbies playmaker Christian Lealiifano will make his 150th Super Rugby appearance for the club when they face the Jaguares in Friday’s Super Rugby semi-final in Buenos Aires.
The Brumbies skipper will lead a largely unchanged side into the cauldron of the home of Velez Sarsfeld FC hoping to guide the team into their seventh Super Rugby final and take another step towards a third title.
The only change from the starting XV that comprehensively saw off the Sharks in Canberra last Saturday evening sees Lachlan McCaffrey come into the side at number eight, promoted from the replacements bench following the injury sustained by Pete Samu which precluded the Wallaby from travelling.
With McCaffrey in the run-on side, Murray Douglas is in line for his 11th appearance of the season as he steps into the finisher’s role amongst a strong-looking set of replacements with head coach Dan McKellar once more opting for six forwards and two backs.
Otherwise, the Brumbies are the same combination that so effectively downed their South African opponents in front of a season’s best crowd in Canberra. McCaffrey joins a back-row that features dynamism and mobility in Rob Valetini and Tom Cusack with Rory Arnold and Sam Carter the second-row pairing.
Up front, in the engine room, the Wallaby trio of Scott Sio, eleven-try Folau Fainga’a and Allan Alaalatoa form a formidable front-row. Behind the scrum the Joe Powell-Lealiifano axis remains intact with Irae Simone and Tevita Kuridrani in the centres. The pair have 10 tries between them in 2019.
The back three all possess try-scoring nous and can point to a combined tally of a dozen tries with Tom Banks (six tries) at full-back and Henry Speight and Toni Pulu the express pairing on either wing.
Prop Leslie Leuluaialii-Makin is one of the six forwards as a substitute and the Brumbies stalwart will bring up his half-century of Super Rugby appearances when he is called upon.
James Slipper, Connal McInerney, Darcy Swain and Jahrome Brown join Douglas are the other forward replacements with Lucas and the versatile Tom Wright McKellar’s backs options.
Brumbies: 15 Tom Banks, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Irae Simone, 11 Toni Pulu, 10 Christian Lealiifano (c), 9 Joe Powell, 8 Lachlan Mccaffrey, 7 Tom Cusack, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Connal Mcinerney, 17 James Slipper, 18 Leslie Leuluaialii-Makin, 19 Darcy Swain, 20 Murray Douglas, 21 Jahrome Brown, 22 Matt Lucas, 23 Tom Wright
Date: Friday, June 28
Venue: Jose Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires
Kick-off: 20:05 (00:05 BST, 23:05 GMT)
Referee: Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)