SupeRugby Qualifier 2 - Brumbies vs Cheetahs

This Sunday South Africa's Cheetahs make their inaugural appearance in the qualifiers. They are searching for their first victory in five trips to Canberra when they take on the Brumbies.

It will be the Australian Conference winning Brumbies' first playoff game since 2004 when they downed the Crusaders in the final.

News from the Australian Capital Territories side is that George Smith will start as he is fully recovered from the knock he received against the British and Irish Lions and after coming off the bench last weekend against the Force he will be fit and ready to start.

"George has all that experience, has played in play-offs and won the competition before so any bit of advantage we can get going into this knockout stage of the competition is going to be vital." Brumbies World Cup-winning Springbok coach Jake White said.

The Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs are the only team of the remaining six teams in this years competition yet to win this tournament and coach Naka Drotske can boast the best season in the franchise history winning 10 out of 16. His team are without a doubt the under dogs but they have been for most of this campaign and can be proud of their achievement thus far. I tend to agree with their coach Drotske: "We have a confident atmosphere in the team and we know if we play well, we can beat any team on the day,".

Prediction
My money is on the Cheetahs not just because they have an expansive game plan and play attractive running rugby but because the Brumbies current squad are just as inexperienced in this stage of the competition. It will be close let's say Cheetahs to win by less than 10.

Brumbies:
1. Scott Sio,2. Stephen Moore,3. Ben Alexander,4. Scott Fardy ,5. Sam Carter,6. Peter Kimlin,7. George Smith,8. Ben Mowen (c),9. Nic White,10. Matt Toomua,11. Clyde Rathbone,12. Christian Lealiifano,13. Tevita Kuridrani,14. Henry Speight,15. Jesse Mogg

Replacements : 16. Siliva Siliva,17. Ruan Smith,18. Fotu Auelua,19. Colby Faingaa,20. Ian Prior,21. Andrew Smith,22. Joe Tomane

Cheetahs:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Riaan Smit, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Rynhardt Landman, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen

Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Waltie Vermeulen, 19 Boom Prinsloo, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Elgar Watts, 22 Rayno Benjamin

Jade Christopher Bentley Adams (@jcba)

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