The Blues will head into Saturday night’s Super Rugby semi-final as the overwhelming favourites but former Wallaby Jeremy Paul says the Brumbies shouldn’t be ruled out.
While the Australians have lacked form in recent weeks, they will take plenty of confidence into the match after producing an impressive comeback over the Hurricanes last weekend in the quarters.
In contrast, the Aucklanders have won 14 on the trot, and with a home crowd advantage, Paul believes they will be hard to stop.
However, the 45-year-old also feels that their fortunes will come to an end eventually, and wouldn’t count the Brumbies out to produce an upset win at Eden Park.
"After 14 wins, you’re always going to be on the edge of that loss,” Paul said on SENZ Afternoons.
“Coming into semi-final footy … the Brumbies finally got some form last week. I mean, looking at that first 20 minutes, the Hurricanes were just all over them.
“The Brumbies looked flat, they looked like they were under huge amounts of pressure, but the second half … the game now in this modern era has really signified just how important your reserve bench is.
“Your reserves and what their impact (is) and what continuity they can bring to the game with obviously a side that’s going well but then also potentially increase that intensity (is what you need).
“We saw that with the Brumbies last week. Particularly losing guys like Nic White early … the Brumbies were under huge amounts of pressure and so they’ll take a lot from that.
“Rob Valetini is back this weekend which is a massive inclusion for the Brumbies.
“You have to go with the favourites, the Blues, but if the Brumbies win this, they’re almost going to be like England in the last World Cup final.
“They’re almost going to play their grand final this weekend, so to get up for that type of two weeks' worth of that level of footy is going to be an extraordinary effort, but I can't rule them out.”
The two sides will go head-to-head on Saturday evening at Eden Park, where the victor will go on to face the Crusaders next weekend in the grand final.