Home ground advantage looms as the ACT Brumbies' trump card in the run to the Super Rugby play-offs, prop James Slipper declaring "we owe it to our fans" to finish the season with a flurry of wins.
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The Brumbies will return to Canberra Stadium for just the second time in 10 weeks when they attempt to snap a three-game losing run against the Auckland Blues on Saturday night.
It's the start of a run of home games, with the Brumbies to play four of their final six regular-season matches in the capital.
It gives the Brumbies a perfect chance to be a surprise Australian conference title contender, despite winning just four of their 10 games so far this year.
Slipper adopted Canberra as his new home this season after more than 100 games for Queensland and he says the Brumbies are determined to use a capital advantage to boost their finals credentials.
"As players, we love playing in front of our home crowd. We owe it to our fans to go out there and put in a performance we're proud of," Slipper said.
"We've got three games in a row at home now and a bye in the middle of that. We want to go out there and play good footy, hopefully the result goes our way."
MORE BRUMBIES NEWS
The Brumbies are four points behind Australian conference leaders the Melbourne Rebels, who will play the Wellington Hurricanes in New Zealand on Saturday afternoon.
The NSW Waratahs are lurking as well, but they've been hit by the Israel Folau off-field saga and injuries before their two-game tour of South Africa, which starts against the Pretoria Bulls on Saturday night.
The Brumbies have managed to stay in touch with the conference leaders despite losing both derby games against the Rebels earlier in the year and struggling through their own injury woes.
David Pocock has missed the past seven games with a calf injury and the former Wallabies skipper will miss at least one more match before making his comeback in what could be his final Australian season.
The Brumbies have also been without Toni Pulu (five weeks), Henry Speight (two weeks), Tevita Kuridrani (one week), Lachlan McCaffrey (two weeks), Josh Mann-Rea (season) and Rob Valetini (five weeks) because of injuries at different times this year.
There has also been the added complication of having to rest Wallabies players from certain games to fulfill obligations with Rugby Australia officials.
But the Brumbies have arguably already completed the tougher half of their draw, losing to the Canterbury Crusaders and Hurricanes in New Zealand, beat last season's runner-up the Johannesburg Lions, won against the Stormers in Cape Town and then got a losing bonus-point in Argentina last week.
"It's tight. The Crusaders and the Hurricanes have pulled away a little bit ... it's just a close competition," said Brumbies coach Dan McKellar.
"I remember speaking to Laurie Fisher about it earlier in the year, we knew it was going to be tight. Last year if you won eight games, you snuck into the semis. This year you might do it if you win seven, which is what we won last year.
We just have to keep building momentum ... four of the next six games at home, we're confident that good things are ahead."
The Brumbies have made three changes to their starting side, recalling Joe Powell and Irae Simone to their scrumhalf and inside centre jobs and giving Len Ikitau the chance to make his debut.
"Really excited for Lenny," said Brumbies captain Christian Lealiifano. "He's been an exciting prospect for the last couple of years, he's been impressive and I admire the way he's gone about his training and work. He's earnt his spot."
The Brumbies started the season in try-scoring form, but their run has been halted in recent weeks. They have averaged just 18 points per game in their past six matches, but gritty defence has been the cornerstone of being able to save their season.
The Brumbies have made more than 350 tackles in the past two games and have made more tackles than any other team in the competition this season.
"We've learnt a lot as a group throughout this year, which I feel is setting us up or putting us in really good form heading into the back end [of the season]," Lealiifano said.
"We've tweaked some things along the way and we've got improving in our attack ... being at home we're a lot more confident to express our attacking game. Hopefully we can build some good momentum into the back end of the year.
"The way the games have been going ... we've probably been kicking the ball away too much. We've got to make the most of our opportunities when we get them.
"We've been trying to make our move all year, but we are aware we're at home now and we can prepare as best we can. It's going to be an advantage for us ... I'd love to see us have a good charge."
THE RUN HOME
Brumbies (20 points): Blues (H), Sunwolves (H), bye, Bulls (H), Sunwolves (A), Waratahs (A), Reds (H).
Rebels (24 points): Hurricanes (A), Reds (H), Bulls (H), Sunwolves (A), Waratahs (H), Crusaders (A), Chiefs (H).
Waratahs (20 points): Bulls (A), Lions (A), Reds (A), Jaguares (H), Rebels (A), Brumbies (H), Highlanders (A).
Reds (18 points): Sunwolves (H), Rebels (A), Waratahs (H), Chiefs (A), Jaguares (H), Blues (H), Brumbies (A).
SUPER RUGBY ROUND 12
Saturday: ACT Brumbies v Auckland Blues at Canberra Stadium, 7.45pm. Tickets available from Ticketek.
Brumbies team: 15. Tom Banks, 14. Henry Speight, 13. Len Ikitau, 12. Irae Simone, 11. Toni Pulu, 10. Christian Lealiifano, 9. Joe Powell, 8. Pete Samu, 7. Tom Cusack, 6. Jahrome Brown, 5. Sam Carter, 4. Rory Arnold, 3. Allan Alaalatoa, 2. Folau Faingaa, 1. James Slipper. Reserves: Connal McInerney, Scott Sio, Les Leuluaialii-Makin, Darcy Swain, Murray Douglas, Ryan Lonergan, Tom Wright, Andy Muirhead.
Blues team: 15. Melani Nanai, 14. Matt Duffie, 13. TJ Faiane, 12. Ma'a Nonu, 11. Caleb Clark, 10. Otere Black, 9. Sam Nock, 8. Akira Ioane, 7. Blake Gibson, 6. Tom Robinson, 5. Josh Goodhue, 4. Gerard Cowley, 3. Ofa Tuungafasi, 2. Leni Apisai, 1. Alex Hodgman. Reserves: James Parsons, Karl Tu'inukuafe, Marcel Renata, Patrick Tuipulotu, Dalton Papalii, Augustine Pulu, Harry Plummer, Levi Aumua.