Skipper Christian Lealiifano determined for his last Brumbies match to be Super Rugby final
Christian Lealiifano’s hopes of ending his long Brumbies career with an elusive title will be put to the test against a beefed-up Jaguares side packed with Argentine internationals.
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THE Brumbies captain Christian Lealiifano will play his 150th Super Rugby match with one goal in mind: he wants to make it to 151.
That’s the magic number he needs to reach to have a shot at ending his Brumbies career end on the ultimate high by winning the title that has eluded him for more than a decade.
After signing to play in Japan next season, this is his last roll of the dice but before he can even think about getting his hands on the trophy, first the Brumbies have to get past the Jaguares.
That’s no mean feat.
Raised on a diet of grilled steak, the Argentinians boast one of the biggest and meanest forward packs in the competition, and they’re packed with Pumas planning to wage war on the last Australian team left standing in the competition.
“The Argentinian sides are always strong around set piece scrums and lineouts and mauls,” Brumbies coach Dan McKellar said.
“They’re certainly a very physical side, they’ve got big men throughout their team and their forward pack is littered with Argentinian internationals across the board.
“We need to make sure we’re effective and efficient around our set piece and we turn up ready with good physical intent because if we don’t do that we won’t get the result we’re after.”
The Brumbies lost to the Jaguares in Buenos Aires in April but haven’t lost a match since, racking up seven wins on the trot, but will be without Pete Samu this week.
The in-form No. 8 injured his hamstring in last weekend’s quarter-final win over the Sharks and has been replaced by Lachie McCaffrey in the only change to the starting side.
“We’re very fortunate to be able to bring in a very quality players and Lachy’s a leader of our team,” McKellar said. “Lachy’s certainly across how we want to play and how we want to do things in this team and he’ll be an important player.”
The Jaguares, looking to make the final for the first time since being admitted to the competition in 2016, have received a timely boost with towering lock Guido Petti cleared to play.
The Pumas’ second rower was in doubt after spraining his ankle in the quarter-final win against the Chiefs but has been cleared to start.
The only change Jaguares’ coach Gonzalo Quesada has made from last week is adding Tomas Lezana to start at openside flanker for Marcos Kremer, who has been battling injuries so will move to the bench as a precaution.