Brumbies unchanged for Rebels

Melbourne - The Brumbies have named an unchanged line-up for Friday’s Australian derby with the Rebels in Melbourne.

Head coach Stephen Larkham has stuck with the same match day squad that defeated the Bulls 23-6 in Canberra last Friday.

The experienced trio of Scott Sio, co-captain Stephen Moore and Ben Alexander pack down in the front row while Rory Arnold and Sam Carter are the starting locks.

Scott Fardy, David Pocock and Jarrad Butler make up the back row while Tomás Cubelli and co-captain Christian Lealiifano are the halfbacks.

Robbie Coleman and Tevita Kuridrani pair up in the centres while James Dargaville and Nigel Ah Wong will start on either wing, Aidan Toua is the fullback.

Larkham was impressed with the work of his reserves last week and will go with six forwards and two backs again.

Josh Man-Rea, Allan Alaalatoa and Ruan Smith all performed well off the bench last week and return alongside Tom Staniforth, Blake Enever, Jordan Smiler, Joe Powell and Lausii Taliauli.

Teams:

Rebels

15 Mike Harris, 14 Sefa Naivalu, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Reece Hodge, 11 Cam Crawford, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Nic Stirzaker (captain), 8 Adam Thomson, 7 Sean McMahon, 6 Colby Fainga’a, 5 Lopeti Timani, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 James Hanson, 1 Toby Smith

Substitutes: 16 Pat Leafa, 17 Cruze Ah Nau, 18 Tim Metcher, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Jordy Reid, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Tom English, 23 Kotaro Matsushima

Brumbies

15 Aidan Toua, 14 Nigel Ah Wong, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Robbie Coleman, 11 James Dargaville, 10 Christian Lealiifano (cc), 9 Tomás Cubelli, 8 Jarrad Butler, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore (cc), 1 Scott Sio 

Substitutes: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 Allan Alaalatoa, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Tom Staniforth, 20 Blake Enever, 21 Jordan Smiler, 22 Joe Powell, 23 Lausii Taliauli