Former Brumbies coach David Nucifora expects his old side to throw everything at his Blues team in Auckland tomorrow in a desperate bid to stay alive in the Super 14 finals chase.
Both teams have much to prove in the Eden Park encounter.
The third-placed Blues have struggled for form over the past five rounds after starting their campaign with three bonus points wins and they were embarrassed by the NSW Waratahs in their last start loss.
The ninth-placed Brumbies are seven points off fourth spot and can ill afford any more losses.
"I'm really not counting, it depends on a lot of other results, we certainly couldn't afford to drop many more," said Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher.
His predecessor at the Brumbies, Nucifora was more blunt about the Canberra-based franchise's prospects.
"This is probably their last roll of the dice, so they will be throwing everything at us," Nucifora said.
The Blues were today boosted by the return from injury of utility Isa Nacewa, who missed the last five games due to a knee injury.
He will line up at fullback and help make up for the loss of All Blacks winger Joe Rokocoko, who will miss the remainder of the Super campaign due to a wrist problem.
Fisher was expecting the Blues to attack the Brumbies' scrum.
After being belted at the breakdown by other New Zealand teams, including the Chiefs and the Hurricanes, the Brumbies had targeted that area over the last week.
"We've done work this week on our ball carries, on trying to look after the ball in contact and working on our recycle and our defence around the ruck area," Fisher said.
He expected his Wallabies centres Stirling Mortlock and Adam Ashley-Cooper to be better for their first run of the season last week.
Mark Gerrard will return at fullback and Fisher was hoping Mortlock's combination with Super rookies Christian Lealiifano and Tyrone Smith would continue to develop.
Nucifora was adamant the Blues were not far away from emerging from their mid-season lull.
"For us, it's a lot to do with confidence, you work in fine margins in this game," Nucifora said.
"We know we're not a long way off.
"Even though we're not happy with the way we've played, we're still in a reasonably good position.
"What we're hoping is that we can get a good confidence boosting win and get ourselves back on track."
While off-field speculation has swirled around the future of both Fisher and Nucifora after this season, the Brumbies coach was adamant their players wouldn't be unsettled by rumours.
"If it's your turn to be off contract then there's always speculation, I guess that's the way things work," Fisher said.
"There seems to be more and more mobility in players and coaches movements these days, I don't think it's unsettling, it won't affect the result."
AAP
