Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham will call on a dozen fresh faces for the last game of the regular season in a bid to avoid injuries ruining their finals campaign.

Just three players will be backing up from the loss to the Queensland Reds last weekend as Larkham keeps one eye on a home quarter-final next weekend and wraps players in cotton wool.

The Brumbies will play either the Chiefs or Wellington Hurricanes in the first final but are wary of adding players to an injury list after Kyle Godwin and Aidan Toua's seasons ended against the Reds.

Scott Fardy, Wharenui Hawera and Henry Speight will keep their place in the starting XV, while Jordan Jackson-Hope will start at fullback and Tomas Cubelli returns at No. 9.

Rookie scrumhalf Ryan Lonergan could make his debut from the bench as Larkham rests bodies.

The Brumbies are expected to leave Christian Lealiifano out of their side to give him an extra week to recover from a hamstring strain before using him as a finals weapon for his first game in a year.

Butler looms as a back-row inclusion just days after finalising a deal to link with Irish club Connacht at the end of the Super Rugby season.

The mass changes will be the biggest rotation of the season after Larkham made just one change to the starting XV in the past four games.

"This week is a chance for a lot guys to make an impression," Butler said.

"The team has been locked in for the last little while because the team has been performing well and you can't really argue with results.

"Guys will be keen to state their case and at the end of the day that's going to be a win-win for us because guys will have more time on the field and be getting their confidence up.

"Then come the finals, we'll have 30 blokes who are ready to rip into the first week of the play-offs at home."

Butler has put his Australian rugby ambitions on hold to sign a three-year deal in Ireland and test himself in a new competition.

The 25-year-old was tipped to be a future Brumbies captain after leading the Canberra Vikings in the National Rugby Championship and earning a reputation as reliable workhorse.

He was also on the radar of Wallabies coach Michael Cheika last year, but a hamstring problem delayed his start to the season and he has slotted into a back-up role for the Brumbies.

But Butler said a chance to link with Cannacht was too good to pass up, even if that meant walking away from his goal to play of playing for the Wallabies.

The former Australian under-20s representative joins a list of Brumbies who will leave the capital at the end of the year, including Fardy, Cubelli and Jordan Smiler.

"It was a tough decision and I weighed up everything about what I wanted to do, whether I wanted to keep trying to pursue the Wallabies and things like that," Butler said.

"But in the end I feel like this is the best decision for me. A lot of things came into consideration and after a lot of deliberating I knew this was the way to go.

"Going overseas was something I always wanted to do and when this opportunity came up, it was something I couldn't really walk away from.

"It's been a bit frustrating this year with injuries to start, but at the moment it's just been really fun in this Brumbies group and the aim is definitely to finish things off in the finals. We're excited about what we can potentially do."

SUPER RUGBY ROUND 17

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