Brumbies to bring aerial ping-pong to final against Bulls

THE Brumbies and Bulls could set a record for most kicks in a game, judging by the pre-match talk in Pretoria.

Jake White

THE Brumbies and Bulls could set a record for most kicks in a game, judging by the pre-match talk in Pretoria.

Make no mistake, the semi-final showdown on Sunday (1.05am AEST) will be one for the die-hard rugby fan.

The Brumbies may be the only Australian team left in the Super Rugby playoffs but they will be playing a completely different game to what new Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie hopes to unveil in his tenure.

The Brumbies had 11 of their starting XV named in McKenzie's Wallabies squad yesterday, as well as bench winger Joe Tomane.

Plenty of their side has much to prove to the Bulls and their national coach.

But McKenzie is unlikely to see a great deal of running rugby to assess, as this match could be one of the all-time great aerial ping-pong battles.

Each side will be kicking the Gilbert logo off the ball to ensure they are not trapped deep in their own quarter.

Neither side will risk running rugby until they're in opposition territory.

Scrums and lineouts will be fiercely contested, the breakdown will be a no holds barred fight, and tactical kicking will flow into penalty goal kicking to win the day.

"They play a lot like us - it is field position, a suffocate type of game,'' Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said.

"The set pieces will be vital and you have to control the broken field and we will have to use the opportunities when we get there.''

Brumbies coach Jake White will not be suddenly changing his team's style in a sudden-death encounter.

"I'm not going to ever deny that we play knock-out football every week,'' White said.

"From where we started we had to get back to winning ways. And I know sometimes people might say that it is quite conservative rugby but we've got to get building blocks in place first.

"It has worked for us. We've got a recipe now for getting results. We have to make sure that we do what we do well and I'm sure that will be good enough to play knock-out football.''