The Brumbies have rested stars in a bid to avoid injuries before the finals and will be without 345 caps worth of experience from the side that lost to the Reds last weekend.

The Chiefs have also rested three stars - Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane and Anton Lienert-Brown - after a draining series against the British and Irish Lions.

But the Brumbies still boast 66 more games of experience than the Chiefs and Larkham is confident a "smarter" approach to squad management will boost the ACT's finals chances.

"For us, the bigger picture is winning the Super Rugby competition," Larkham said.

"The mentality the boys have on the field is to win. From a coaching point of view we wanted to be smarter this year, making sure the whole squad is fresh and motivated.

"We're heavily focused on putting on a performance [in the first week of the finals] and we're lucky we've been able to prepare for the finals without needing to win these last two games [of the regular season].

"But we're taking this team over [to New Zealand] to win. We thought about this decision long and hard ... we're resting guys who have played pretty much the whole year for us.

"We came up with this plan a couple of weeks ago. For us it's about winning, building confidence of winning in any circumstance."

Larkham has seen first hand how resting players can affect a team after the NSW Waratahs imploded 15 years ago when they tried the same tactic.

The Waratahs benched several key players for the last game before the finals and were thumped 96-19 by the Canterbury Crusaders.

The Waratahs couldn't recover the following week and the Brumbies hammered their interstate rivals 51-10.

But Larkham is unfazed by history, backing his players to stand tall as the club chases its first win in New Zealand since March, 2014.

He said the decision to overhaul his game-day squad was made before being hit by injuries to Kyle Godwin, Aidan Toua, Rory Arnold and Chris Alcock last weekend.

Captain Sam Carter and Wallabies Allan Alaalatoa, Tevita Kuridrani and Joe Powell have all been rested after heavy workloads this season.

Scott Fardy, Henry Speight and Wharenui Hawera are the only players retained in the starting XV while Jordan Jackson-Hope gets his run-on debut at fullback and scrumhalf Ryan Lonergan could earn his first cap from the bench.

"We're expecting the Chiefs to throw the ball around a bit, particularly in counter-attack," Jackson-Hope.

"We've got to be pretty solid in the front line and covering a lot of kicks in behind. If we can aim up in defence and limit their chances, we should be in the fight.

"A lot of boys haven't had much of a crack this year, so they'll be looking to stick their hands up for finals.

"After the training we've had, everyone's got a lot of energy and is ready to rip in."

There will be nine Brumbies in the squad with less than 20 games of experience, including Jackson-Hope, Lonergan, hooker Robbie Abel, Tom Cusack and Ben Hyne.

Christian Lealiifano's comeback has been put on ice for another week because of a hamstring strain, but the inspirational playmaker is on track to play his first game in 11 months in the Super Rugby finals.

The Brumbies have secured a finals spot and already know they will play either the Chiefs or Wellington Hurricanes at Canberra Stadium in the finals on July 21.

"The reason for the rotation this week is to make sure guys are firing next week," Larkham said.

Abel replaces Josh Mann-Rea as the starting hooker, Tom Staniforth and Blake Enever will be the locks while Jarrad Butler and Lolo Fakaosilea join Fardy in the back row.

Scrumhalf Tomas Cubelli starts his first game of the season after suffering a pre-season knee injury, while Andrew Smith shifts to inside centre and Nigel Ah Wong replaces Kuridrani at outside centre.

Australian teams have lost 29 games in a row against New Zealand opponents, although the Queensland Reds could end that streak on Friday night.

SUPER RUGBY ROUND 17

Saturday: Waikato Chiefs v ACT Brumbies at Hamilton, New Zealand, 3.15pm. TV time: Live on Fox Sports 1.

Brumbies team: 15. Jordan Jackson-Hope, 14. Henry Speight, 13. Nigel Ah Wong, 12. Andrew Smith, 11. James Dargaville, 10. Wharenui Hawera, 9. Tomas Cubelli, 8. Lolo Fakaosilea, 7. Jarrad Butler, 6. Scott Fardy (c), 5. Blake Enever, 4. Tom Staniforth, 3. Leslie Leuluailii-Makin, 2. Robbie Abel, 1. Nic Mayhew. Reserves: 16. Josh Mann-Rea, 17. Scott Sio, 18. Ben Alexander, 19. Ben Hyne, 20. Tom Cusack, 21. Jordan Smiler, 22. Ryan Lonergan, 23. Tom Banks.

Chiefs team: 15. Damian McKenzie, 14. Solomon Alaimalo, 13. Alex Nankivell, 12. Charlie Ngatai, 11. James Lowe, 10. Aaron Cruden (c), 9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8. Michael Leitch, 7. Lachlan Boshier, 6. Liam Messam, 5. Mitchell Brown, 4. Michael Allardice, 3. Nepo Laulala, 2. Nathan Harris, 1. Kane Hames. Reserves: 16. Liam Polwart, 17. Aidan Ross, 18. Atu Moli, 19. Tom Sanders, 20. Mitchell Karpik, 21. Finlay Christie, 22. Stephen Donald, 23. Shaun Stevenson.