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No tinkering required as Brumbies roll out unchanged side for Blues


CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - FEBRUARY 22: Andy Muirhead of the Brumbies is congratulated by team mateds after scoring a try during the round two Super Rugby match between Crusaders and ACT Brumbies at Apollo Projects Stadium, on February 22, 2026, in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)
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Brumbies head coach Stephen Larkham isn’t worried about having too much of a good thing, selecting the same matchday 23 that delivered last week’s statement win over the Crusaders for this week’s tussle with the Blues.

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The Brumbies return home for the first time in the young season for the round 3 showdown, leading the Super Rugby Pacific table after two bonus point wins on the road.

Their opponents, the Blues, sit in fifth and hold a slight edge in the recent rivalry, having won three of the last five games. The last fixture between the two, however, was a hard-fought, one-point victory for the ACT men at Eden Park.

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And so, Larkham has stuck to his winning recipe, which means loosehead prop James Slipper edges one step closer to Super Rugby’s all-time caps record (202), having notched his 200th appearance last week in Christchurch.

Fixture
Super Rugby Pacific
Brumbies
30 - 27
Full-time
Blues
All Stats and Data

Brumbies team to play the Blues

  1. James Slipper
  2. Billy Pollard
  3. Rhys van Nek
  4. Lachie Shaw
  5. Cadeyrn Neville
  6. Rob Valetini
  7. Rory Scott
  8. Charlie Cale
  9. Ryan Lonergan (c)
  10. Declan Meredith
  11. Corey Toole
  12. David Feliuai
  13. Kadin Pritchard
  14. Ollie Sapsford
  15. Andy Muirhead

Finishers 

16. Liam Bowron
17. Blake Schoupp
18. Tevita Alatini
19. Toby Macpherson
20. Luke Reimer
21. Klayton Thorn
22. Tane Edmed
23. Hudson Creighton

Injury list

Allan Alaalaota, back
Lachlan Lonergan, knee
Tom Wright, knee

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GodOfFriedChicken 50 minutes ago
Jamie Joseph pinpoints where Highlanders repeatedly fell short in 2026

In an article from years back, the Highlanders were mentioned as spending far below the salary cap compared to the other teams in the competition, particularly the Crusaders and the Blues with a key factor being more difficulty attracting top young talent. Part of that is because they’ve been historically the least successful team in the competition and that’s not always just mismanagement - they’ve visibly had less talent than most of the other teams in the competition for a number of reasons. Part of this is of course having the smallest population base out of all the teams but they’ve also the University of Otago not attracting as many players to the area out of high school as it used to. How is that the Highlanders’ fault? They can make do with other teams’ scraps but let’s be honest here - most of the other teams will be claiming their top talent first and their blue chip import talent will be guys from surplus positions such as winger (e.g. Tangitau) or players from outsider situations like Tavatavanawai (coming from Fiji and Moana) or Holland (latecomer to NZ and at a position that was covered in most other SR franchises).

That’s where you need to find parity. A different draft system could be “pick an All Black coach for your team” and the draft gives you dibs on who out of the ABs team becomes and assistant at your franchise. One cool way to ensure a key factor in acruing talent.



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