Brumbies call in Faingaa
The Brumbies made one change to their starting line-up for their Super Rugby crunch match against the Blues in Auckland on Saturday.
Veteran Wallaby loose forward George Smith is out with a strained medial ligament and has been replaced by Colby Faingaa in the starting side.
Jordan Smiler comes onto the bench.
Pat McCabe's knee injury has also cleared room on the bench, with Clyde Rathbone making his first appearance for more than a month.
"The players are aware of how important a win in Auckland is for the club heading into the tail end of the season and we will be working hard to regain some of the momentum we had in the early parts of the season," coach Jake White said.
"Colby has been on the radar as one of Australia's best young talents for a couple of years now and we have full faith in him to have a big game this weekend. It's nice to be able to present him with this opportunity.
"When you look at our bench, to be bringing a guy like Clyde on is quite comforting because he has plenty of experience playing in big games against quality opposition.
"The Blues have been one of the standout teams in 2013 and it's a tough assignment to go over there and knock them off."
The 2012 match against the Blues was a heartbreaker for the Brumbies, going down without a bonus point to miss a finals spot to the Reds.
While that game has been forgotten, the Brumbies will be focussed on securing a win on the road to ensure they are not in a similar position in three week's time.
The last time the Brumbies played in Auckland the home team managed to squeeze a narrow win, 39-34.
Brumbies: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben Mowen (captain), 7 Colby Faingaa, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Scott Fardy, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Siliva Siliva, 17 Ruan Smith, 18 Fotu Auelua, 19 Jordan Smiler, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Robbie Coleman, 22 Clyde Rathbone.
Date: Saturday, May 25
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Kick-off: 19.35 (07.35 GMT)
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jonathon White (New Zealand), Nick Briant (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
