Wallaby Pat McCabe will reprise his successful 2012 Super Rugby combination with Christian Lealiifano after being named at inside centre for the Brumbies’ clash with the Southern Kings in Canberra on Friday night.
Despite the Brumbies preparing for a match that will likely attract a below average Canberra Stadium crowd, McCabe was bizarrely shielded from all media this week by coach Jake White.
However captain Ben Mowen laughed when asked if the 18-Test Wallaby inside centre would be feeling the nerves in his first Super Rugby game since fracturing his neck in the 2012 Wallabies spring tour to Europe.
“No, nope. Anyone who’s seen Patty carrying a ball would know that there’s no nerves about him in terms of contact,” Mowen said.
“His biggest strength is in how direct he is as a player and a defender.”
McCabe’s return to inside centre will push Lealiifano to flyhalf and give the impressive Matt Toomua a rest after three weeks of bruising South African encounters.
“(Toomua) could have played this week if I really wanted to push him through. It’s more just making sure we get him 100 per cent spot-on going forward,” White said.
“The reason that I’ve picked (Lealiifano) this week as well is to enable Wallabies selectors to see that he is versatile enough to be in match-day 22s.”
Fullback Jesse Mogg is being cautiously rested again due to his shoulder injury, giving Robbie Coleman another crack at the back after being the Brumbies’ only tryscorer in the 23-20 buzzer-beating win against the Bulls on Saturday.
White has resisted the temptation to overhaul the side with rotational changes for the second-last-placed Kings, with Fotu Auelua coming off the bench to No.8, Ben Alexander to loosehead prop and run-on debutant Siliva Siliva to hooker for Stephen Moore the only other changes to last week’s starting line-up.
The Kings are into week three of a four match trans-Tasman tour and are starting to feel the pain, bringing former Springbok Waylon Murray off the bench to outside centre, Hannes Franklin to hooker, Rynier Bernardo to lock and Cornell du Preez to No.8.
The Kings upset the Force in round two and have since kept respectable scorelines against Super Rugby heavyweights the Sharks, Chiefs and Hurricanes.
Hence the competition leading Brumbies are aware they’ll need to tread carefully.
“We’ve been particularly impressed with what we’ve seen early on,” Mowen said.
“They’re an extremely dangerous side. They’re a side that has very disciplined defence and has entertainers across their back three who can score points.”
