The Brumbies are bracing for another Super Rugby nail-biter on Saturday night when they face the unbeaten Highlanders, who like the Canberra franchise have left their fans on edge until the final whistle.
While the table-topping Otago-based team have been the standouts over the first four rounds – accounting for highly-regarded teams the Chiefs, Crusaders, Waratahs and Hurricanes – they’ve won all those matches by four points or less.
Similarly, the Brumbies have battled the clock to pip the Western Force by two points, sink the Cheetahs with a penalty kick on the fulltime siren and then lose at the death last Friday night when the Chiefs crossed with the last play of the game.
Brumbies forwards coach Laurie Fisher on Thursday backed his young squad to galvanise after the heartbreak of their first loss under coach Jake White.
“A moment of madness might cost you so you’ve got to play from one to 80 every week,” said Fisher.
“But there’s tremendous character in the side and a tremendous desire so again I’m confident that we’ll be giving a good account of ourselves.”
Fisher said the Highlanders will no doubt be the biggest test in a taxing section of their campaign with a clash at home to the Sharks to follow and then a trip to Brisbane to face champions Queensland.
“They don’t have any weaknesses in their game,” Fisher said.
“They are strong up front, they pick and drive well … they’ve got width.
“They challenge you constantly and they challenge you in all parts of the field.
“It’ll be a very, very tough day for us.”
The Brumbies have recalled Sam Carter at lock and Nic White at halfback, both who started last week’s match on the bench, while Michael Hooper has retained his place at openside flanker.
Carter was brought in at the expense of Scott Fardy, despite a solid contribution from the versatile forward in just his third Super Rugby match against the Chiefs.
Fisher said rotation would continue to be part and parcel of the Brumbies’ selection process.
“We’ll look across our squad and we’ve got to have faith in our development, faith in the quality of players, faith in our depth and give people opportunity.”
Fijian-born Tevita Kuridrani is in line for his Super Rugby debut against after being named on the bench.
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