Strike weapons and a skipper: Stars return for Hurricanes showdown

But scrumhalf Ryan Lonergan has challenged the rest of the Brumbies not to "pull the handbrake" and rely on returning stars to lead them back to the winner's circle.

Allan Alaalatoa, Len Ikitau and Andy Muirhead are back in time for a clash with the Hurricanes at Canberra Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Alaalatoa is poised to make his return to the starting XV after recovering from an Achilles injury which ruined his World Cup hopes and kept him on the sideline for nine months.

Ikitau starts at outside centre while Muirhead joins the bench with the pair overcoming knee injuries suffered in round four.

The return of 25-year-old Ikitau adds firepower to the Brumbies' back line while Alaalatoa's return is crucial for a side which endured a physical beatdown at the hands of the Blues in Auckland last week.

"You can't just rely on guys to come back in and then pull the handbrake a little bit," Lonergan said.

"We're all there on the weekend together and we're all going to be there this weekend together, so we've got to be able to nail it.

"What we're working on, it's probably similar for us. The physical battle there is going to be key.

"They're top of the ladder for a reason, they've got some really exciting players there, a super powerful team, quite similar to the Blues with a little bit more structure around their game. It's going to be a good challenge.

"It's a good time to be back at home [against] a good team so we can show what we're made of. We really want to show up."

Rory Scott will get his first start of the year in the Brumbies' No.7 jersey with Jahrome Brown moving to the bench, while the Hurricanes will be without hooker Asafo Aumua due to an MCL tear.

The Brumbies still sit third on the ladder and have lost just two games this season - but the number that stands out is 46.

That's the number of points the Brumbies have conceded in each of their defeats this season, first to the Chiefs during Super Round and then to the Blues.

Lonergan admits there is a mental element at play for a Brumbies side which has struggled to claw back into a contest after falling behind.

But he is confident the Brumbies can reverse the trend against a Hurricanes side riding an eight-game winning streak to start the season.

"You never want to roll over," Lonergan said.

"While it might look like that, if we took a few other opportunities there early on, we keep ourselves in the game. I don't really want to say we rolled over on the weekend, [against] the Chiefs maybe [we did] a little bit, but it's definitely an attitude thing we can fix up.

"It was only 7-0 maybe 30 minutes in. It was a pretty steep decline there in the second half, so there definitely is a mental side of it. We'll try to train that this week.

"We've shown we can be physical. It's there, it's just being able to extract that. I think it's more of a mentality thing.

"The attitude side of it, not saying our attitude was poor, but I think it's an easy fix for the physical side of things, particularly from what we showed on the weekend. We get our attitude right through training, then it will transfer into a game."

Brumbies squad: 1. James Slipper, 2. Billy Pollard, 3. Allan Alaalatoa, 4. Darcy Swain, 5. Cadyern Neville, 6. Rob Valetini, 7. Rory Scott, 8. Charlie Cale, 9. Ryan Lonergan (c), 10. Noah Lolesio, 11. Corey Toole, 12. Tamati Tua, 13. Len Ikitau, 14. Ollie Sapsford, 15. Tom Wright.

Replacements: 16. Connal McInerney, 17. Blake Schoupp, 18. Sefo Kautai, 19. Tom Hooper, 20. Jahrome Brown, 21. Harrison Goddard, 22. Jack Debreczini, 23. Andy Muirhead.

Hurricanes squad: 1. Xavier Numia, 2. James O'Reilly, 3. Tyrel Lomax, 4. Caleb Delany, 5. Isaia Walker-Leawere, 6. Brad Shields (c), 7. Du'Plessis Kirifi, 8. Brayden Iose, 9. TJ Perenara, 10. Brett Cameron, 11. Salesi Rayasi, 12. Jordie Barrett, 13. Peter Umaga-Jensen, 14. Kini Naholo, 15.Ruben Love.

Replacements: 16. Raymond Tuputupu, 17. Tevita Mafileo, 18. Pasilio Tosi, 19. Ben Grant, 20. Peter Lakai, 21. Richard Judd, 22. Riley Higgins, 23. Bailyn Sullivan