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Brumbies enter semi-final showdown without good luck charm
By Online Editors
The Brumbies have made one predictable change for their Super Rugby semi-final against the Jaguares, promoting Lachlan McCaffrey to No.8 in place of the injured Pete Samu.
Heading into Saturday's match, Samu and prop James Slipper are the only two forwards to have turned out in every match for the Brumbies in 2019. In fact, only 12 players in the whole competition have mustered up 17 appearances this year.
Samu was one of the Brumbies' top performers in the quarter-final win over the Sharks, scoring two tries in the first half before he left the field with the strained hamstring which will almost mark the end of his Super Rugby season - even if the Brumbies beat the odds and secure victory over the Jaguares this weekend.
McCaffrey has been a regular fill-in player for coach Dan McKellar's side this year, clocking up the 15th most minutes in the team, but doesn't offer quite as much dynamism as the New Zealand-born Samu.
McKellar has otherwise stayed with the starting team who demolished the Sharks in the quarter-finals for the match in Buenos Aires on Saturday morning.
Lock Murray Douglas takes McCaffrey's spot on the bench.
Captain Christian Lealiiano will make his 150th appearance for the Brumbies in what could be his final game before leaving for Japan.
The Brumbies come into the game on a seven-match winning run, although their Argentine opponents can boast 10 wins from their last 11.
Brumbies: Tom Banks, Henry Speight, Tevita Kuridrani, Irae Simone, Toni Pulu, Christian Lealiifano (c), Joe Powell, Lachlan McCaffrey, Tom Cusack, Rob Valetini, Sam Carter, Rory Arnold, Allan Alaalatoa, Folau Fainga'a, Scott Sio. Reserves: Connal McInerney, James Slipper, Les Makin, Darcy Swain, Murray Douglas, Jahrome Brown, Matt Lucas, Tom Wright.
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Latest Comments
Turn it up. Give me your john A game would ya!
Go to commentsI didn't really get the should tone from it, but maybe because I was just reading it as my own thoughts.
What I read it as was examples of how they played well enough in every game to be able to win it.
Yeah I dunno if Ben wouldn't see it that way (someone else would for sure need to point it out to him though), I'm more in the Ben not appreciating that those close losses werent one off scenarios camp. Sure you can look at dubious decisions causing them to have to play with 14 or 13 men at the death as viable reasons but even in the games they won without such difficulties they made a real struggle of it (compared to how good some of their first half play was). This kind of article where you trying to point out the 3 losses really would most likely have been wins only really makes sense/works when your other performances make those 3 games (or endings) stand out.
There might have been a sentence here and there to ensure some good comment numbers but when he's signing off the article by saying things like ..
and..
I don't really see it. Always making sure people are upto date with the SH standing/perspective! NZ went through some tough times with so many different perspectives and reasons why, but then it was.. amusing how.. behind everyone was once they turned a corner. More of these 'unfortunate' results returned against SA and France at the start of the RWC which made it extra tasty to catch other teams out when they did bring it. So that created some 'conscious' perspective that I just kept going and sharing re thoughts on similar predicaments of other teams, I had been really confident that Wallabies displays vs NZ were real, that the Argentines can backup their thing against Aus and SA (and so obviously the rest), and current one is that England are actually consistent and improving with their attack (which everyone should get onboard with), and I'm expecting a more dominant display against Japan (even though they should have more of their experienced internationals for this one) that highlights further growth from July. 👍
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