Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham has vowed to continue mixing things up at the selection table in his side's push to top the Australian Super Rugby conference.
Despite a 28-12 win over bitter rivals the Waratahs last week, Larkham made five changes to his starting line-up to face the Highlanders who prevailed 18-13 in a tight tussle in Canberra on Saturday night.
Wallabies flanker Scott Fardy's surprising early-season rest foreshadowed the coach's propensity to rotate his forwards with only one unchanged Brumbies team fielded this season.
"The guys have really enjoyed getting out there for a couple of games and then letting other guys have a chance," Larkham said.
"We want to maintain that throughout the whole year."
The Brumbies head to the bye 2-3 but appear to be Australia's biggest Super Rugby hope after pushing the Crusaders and Highlanders to the brink and losing after the siren to the Sharks.
Winger James Dargaville was rested against the Waratahs in favour of Nigel Ah Wong, while props Nic Mayhew and Ben Alexander have been interchanged and lock Blake Enever made his first start for the year against the Highlanders.
"The beauty of this squad is that there is so much competition for spots," Larkham said.
"There's been guys who've had their opportunity in these first five games to get into the squad. Other guys who have missed out who probably don't deserve to have missed out.
Larkham is mindful of the tension between maintaining combinations and rotating his young squad, but is intent on sticking with changes.
"You've got to be very careful with who you change and when you change," he said.
With the five-point margin put on them by the Highlanders their heaviest defeat of the year, the Brumbies could be forgiven for spending their break thinking of what could have been.
But after a brief consideration of various scenarios Larkham reached a realist's conclusion.
"It's irrelevant, isn't it?"
"Our destiny, like we always say, is in our hands.
"If we make sure we win the games in front of us, the result will look after itself at the end of the year."
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