Cape Town - Brumbies coach Jake White has said he is eager to see George Smith playing alongside David Pocock in their Super Rugby game against the Waratahs this weekend.

Smith recently joined up again with his former team again after seeing his Japanese team, Suntory Sungoliath, to their fifth title, and like Brumbies new-boy Pocock, he is known to be a breakdown specialist.

Pocock is set to start and Smith will play off the bench, but speaking to the ESPN Scrum website, White said he was eager to see the two players playing alongside each other during the course of the game.

"It will be an opportunity for me to see what they're like together for a while, and then maybe relieve David of some duties to get ready for the next couple of tough weeks," White said.

"One of the things I'm really mindful of is that Pocock cannot play 80 minutes of rugby every single week."

The selection of two exponents of the dark breakdown arts of 'fetching' alongside each other could be seen as something of an about-face for White, who once famously remarked that a 'fetcher' was what he called his son when he wanted a beer brought from the fridge.

The Brumbies go into the match against the Waratahs as firm favourites, having won their first two games of the season, but White put to bed any ideas of complacency ahead of the clash, after Waratahs coach Michael Cheika spent the week drumming up the Waratahs' underdog status.

"It sounds like an ambush because it is an ambush," White said.

"The reality is I've never heard of a Waratahs team ever saying they're coming down to the Brumbies as underdogs."

The Brumbies will take on the Waratahs on Saturday at the Canberra Stadium. Kick-off is at 10:40 SA time.