Tomane has been left out of the Brumbies' squad to play the Auckland Blues at Eden Park on Friday night and will instead join the Owls for a John I Dent Cup cameo on Saturday.

Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham has thrown his faith behind James Dargaville and Nigel Ah Wong as the team's wingers two weeks out from the finals as Tomane edges closer to a return from a knee problem.

Michael Wells shifts to No. 8 for the first starting appearance of his Super Rugby career after he quit the Australian sevens program and a chance to play at the Rio Olympics to pursue his Brumbies ambitions.

Larkham has also recalled scrumhalf Tomas Cubelli to the starting XV while Tom Staniforth joins the bench.

The Brumbies need to beat the unpredictable Blues to stay ahead in the battle for Australia's guaranteed finals spot, but Larkham said it wasn't worth rushing back Tomane.

Provided Tomane gets through the Owls' match against Wests, Tomane will rejoin the Brumbies for their last game of the regular season against the Western Force.

He was the form winger of the competition before injury struck and scored six tries in eight games. But he's missed the past 10 weeks as he battled to overcome medial ligament damage.

"Every day Joe trains, he looks good out there. But I think for his head, giving him a chance to play club rugby this week will put him in a better frame of mind for next week," Larkham said.

"If you walk to Joey, he's almost there. His body is fine. But it's a significant injury for Joey and he hasn't had something like this for a while.

"For his mental space, it would be great to get out and play 40 or 60 minutes of club rugby for his fitness and just to prove to himself that he's right.

"We don't want to test him in Super Rugby to see if he's right or not. He can do that in club rugby and he'll prove he's right for Super Rugby the following week."

The Brumbies are locked with the NSW Waratahs on 39 ladder points, but the Brumbies are ahead because they've won more games.

Losing to the Blues would open the door for the Waratahs to move into pole position in the closing stages of the regular season and knock the Brumbies out of title contention.

The battle will likely go down to the last game of the year regardless of what happens this weekend.

Wells is being thrown into the Super Rugby battle for his first start after making his debut in South Africa earlier this year.

The Brumbies could get Tomane and David Pocock back next week, but the Blues' clash giving Wells a chance to shine.

"[Wells] is a natural No. 8, he has worked really hard on his No. 7 skills and has definitely improved," Larkham said.

The Blues are all but out of play-offs contention but relish the role of playing finals pests for their opponents.

They beat the Brumbies in the last game of the 2012 campaign to spoil the Canberra side's championship ambitions, and that memory still stings the Brumbies.

"We've got to make sure we're nice and structured, not running around like a bunch of scallywags [against the Blues]," inside centre Matt Toomua said.

"Eden Park is a tough place to play ... they like to throw the ball around, so we have to get up in their place. It's tough place to win, but the Brumbies haven't done too bad there over there years."

SUPER RUGBY ROUND 16

Friday: Auckland Blues v ACT Brumbies at Eden Park, 5.30pm AEST. TV time: Live on Fox Sports 2.

Brumbies team: 15. Aidan Toua, 14. Nigel Ah Wong, 13. Tevita Kuridrani, 12. Matt Toomua, 11. James Dargaville, 10. Christian Lealiifano, 9. Tomas Cubelli, 8 Michael Wells, 7. Jarrad Butler, 6. Scott Fardy, 5. Sam Carter, 4. Rory Arnold, 3. Ben Alexander, 2. Stephen Moore, 1. Scott Sio. Reserves: 16. Josh Mann-Rea, 17. Allan Alaalatoa, 18. Ruan Smith, 19. Blake Enever, 20. Tom Staniforth, 21. Joe Powell, 22. Andrew Smith, 23. Lausii Taliauli.