Wallaby playmaker Stephen Larkham makes his first appearance of the Super 14 rugby season for the ACT Brumbies against the Auckland Blues in Canberra on Saturday.
Larkham, playing what is likely to be his 12th and farewell season, missed the Brumbies’s 21-15 opening victory against Waikato last week to be with his wife and newborn daughter.
The likelihood that skipper Stirling Mortlock may miss this weekend’s match has been offset in part by the return of the scheming Larkham, lining up for his 108th game in the tournament.
Much depends on the 32-year-old flyhalf to initiate the Brumbies’ attacks and he will be a key man against the Blues, who upset six-time champions Canterbury Crusaders 34-25 last Friday.
Auckland last won in the national capital seven years ago and, following their rousing effort at home, their consistency away from home this weekend will be tested with similar intensity.
Mortlock is rated 50-50 to play after a head knock suffered against the Chiefs and off-season acquisition Julian Huxley is likely to be entrusted again with the goalkicking duties.
Auckland will be without Isaia Toeava, who injured his shoulder, and Sam Tuitupou, who injured his knee, for the trip to Canberra.
Canterbury, who are without their seven All Blacks from the first seven Super 14 matches under New Zealand’s World Cup preparations, are bidding for their 22nd consecutive victory at their Christchurch ground against the Queensland Reds on Saturday.
The Crusaders, the benchmark team in the Super 12/14 with eight final appearances in 11 seasons, last lost at home to Auckland on February 27 2004, while the Reds, under former Wallabies’ coach Eddie Jones, have won once in New Zealand in the last seven seasons.
But the Reds are encouraged by a weakened Crusaders’ line-up and confidence from their grinding 25-16 home win over last season’s finalists Wellington Hurricanes last weekend.
Former Wallaby Lloyd Johansson is back in the centre after being dropped for last week’s opening game as a disciplinary measure for arriving late for training.
The NSW Waratahs did well to knock over the rebranded Lions at altitude in Johannesburg last Friday, arriving just two days before the game to counter-balance the effects of jet-lag, and return to sea level for Friday’s match with the Coastal Sharks in Durban.
Coach Ewen McKenzie is looking to beef up his forwards with the selection of back-rower Beau Robinson and Wallaby hooker Adam Freier.
”We think there’s going to be a lot of ball movement and we need some physicality,” McKenzie said. ”We want to make sure we’re contesting at every possible moment.”
The Sharks may be without two of their best players, scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar (hamstring) and tighthead prop BJ Botha (thigh).
Australia’s Western Force, big flops in last week’s 8-7 home loss to Otago Highlanders despite a huge off-season recruitment campaign, have made just one change for their first South African tour game against the Western Stormers in Cape Town on Friday.
Flyhalf James Hilgendorf is out with a groin injury allowing expensive signing Matt Giteau to revert to pivot while Junior Pelesasa is elevated to starting centre.
A stomach virus has ruled lock Selborne Boome out of the Stormers’s team and he has been replaced by Gerrie Britz.
The Northern Bulls hope to bounce back from last week’s 17-3 loss to the Sharks and will be taking on the Central Cheetahs in Pretoria on Saturday. The Cheetahs held them to a pulsating draw in the final of the Currie Cup last year.
In this weekend’s other matches, the Chiefs face the Hurricanes in Hamilton and the Lions play the Highlanders in Johannesburg on Saturday. – Sapa-AFP