Blues v Brumbies
Kick-off: 7.05pm Friday 14 June
Eden Park, Auckland
Live blog coverage on RNZ Sport
The Blues head into tonight's Super Rugby Pacific semi-final as favourites with good reason, they finished the regular season in second spot and haven't lost at home in 2024. The Brumbies have had a win on this side of the Tasman recently but will need to pull out their best to cause an upset and make it through to next weekend's final.
Here's a look at the teams:
Blues: 1 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 3 Marcel Renata, 4 Sam Darry, 5 Josh Beehre, 6 Akira Ioane, 7 Dalton Papali'i (c), 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 9 Finlay Christie, 10 Harry Plummer, 11 Caleb Clarke, 12 AJ Lam, 13 Rieko Ioane, 14 Mark Tele'a, 15 Stephen Perofeta
Bench: 16 Kurt Eklund, 17 Joshua Fusitu'a, 18 Angus Ta'avao, 19 James Thompson, 20 Adrian Choat, 21 Taufa Funaki, 22 Corey Evans, 23 Cole Forbes
Brumbies: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andy Muirhead, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Tamati Tua, 11 Corey Toole, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Ryan Lonergan, 8 Charlie Cale, 7 Rory Scott, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Tom Hooper, 4 Darcy Swain, 3 Allan Alaalatoa (c), 2 Billy Pollard, 1 James Slipper
Bench: 16 Liam Bowron, 17 Rhys van Nek, 18 Sosefo Kautai, 19 Nick Frost, 20 Jahrome Brown, 21 Luke Reimer, 22 Harrison Goddard, 23 Ollie Sapsford
Blues selections
Akira Ioane with fans. Photo: Brett Phibbs/Photosport
There's been good news for the Blues over the last 24 hours, with Akira Ioane passed fit to play in his final fortnight as part of the team. Vern Cotter admittedly does have a bit of depth at loose forward, but Ioane's presence is a big motivating factor. Elsewhere, the only change from last weekend's team is Sam Darry coming in at lock for the injured Patrick Tuipulotu.
Brumbies selections
Andy Muirhead of the Brumbies celebrates with team mates after scoring a try during the Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final win over the Highlanders in Canberra. Photo: photosport
James Slipper returns at prop for the Brumbies, after missing last weekend's quarter-final win over the Highlanders. That's a pretty significant boost as the set piece will be crucial in this game, it's been a traditional strength of the Brumbies forever so it's fair to say they'll be leaning on it heavily. Flanker Rory Scott comes back into the starting line-up in place of Jahrome Brown, who drops down to the bench.
What they're saying
"We've been building all year to try and get our best performances in the finals and we're looking to take it a step further compared to last week where a few things hurt us and we let ourselves down. We want to make sure that we're a bit more clinical in all aspects of our game." - Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham.
"We know the Brumbies are going to be coming here with a vengeance and we just got to be good, prepare ourselves. So, it's going to be a big one. And just making sure our collisions, physicality and not being complacent." - Blues captain Dalton Papali'i.
The last time they met
The Blues' best performance of the year was against easily the Brumbies' worst back in round nine. It ended up being settled before the halftime whistle went as the Blues shot out to a 24-0 lead, demolishing the Brumbies in every facet of the game, but it is worth noting that it's been the last time Stephen Larkham's side has lost a game.
Prediction
It's extremely unlikely the Brumbies will play that poorly again, but it's also unlikely that the Blues will change much about the way they're playing. Vern Cotter's side has a very direct style that's very hard to combat once they get on a roll, they like to set up camp in the opposition 22 and smash their way through rather than try and score from long range. The Brumbies are most probably going to rely on penalties to gain field position, the key thing for the Blues is to not give anything away cheaply and use the home crowd to their advantage.