Brown braces for a mauling

Scrums, lineouts and a truckload of rolling mauls.

Highlanders coach Tony Brown knows exactly what’s coming when his troops run out to play the Brumbies in Canberra tonight.

‘‘They don’t hide what they’re going to do against you,’’ Brown said ahead of his team’s first non New Zealand derby of the season.

Considering the sluggish 1-3 start to the season the Highlanders have made, beating the Brumbies is paramount if the Dunedin-based team is to avoid further lagging behind the streaking Chiefs, Crusaders and Hurricanes in the New Zealand conference.

But to do so, they will need to do something they’ve only managed three times in 11 previous visits to the Australian capital.

Knowing full well the Brumbies will use their big pack in an attempt to batter them, draw penalties, kick to the corner and unleash their grunty rolling maul, the Highlanders spent the week preparing for a style not typically associated with Australian rugby.

‘‘We are going to have to adjust to the South African style as they are a scrum and maul team. They do not play like Aussie teams,’’ Brown said.

‘‘They’re going to scrum you every scrum and then they’re going to maul you every maul. They’re a pretty predictable team but they’re hard to stop when they get going.

‘‘But we’ve had a big week’s preparation around that and hopefully our discipline is good and we cut the number of lineouts they get.’’

Including last year’s 15-9 quarterfinal win in Canberra, the Highlanders have won the last two matches against the Brumbies and will match their three-match streak between 2001-2003 if they get over the line tonight.

Last year’s win in Canberra marked the first time the Highlanders tasted victory there in 10 years, but Brown said the squad had not re-visited the match in the lead up to this weekend.

‘‘No, we didn’t look back at that but I’m sure they will look back at that and feel like we stole one off them there,’’ Brown said.

The then defending champion Highlanders barely managed to rebuff an intense barrage on their own line as the clock ticked down to preserve a narrow six-point win.

With a spluttering first month of the season behind them, Brown admitted there had been extra focus during the week regarding maintaining their mental edge for a full 80 minutes.

The Highlanders choked away a healthy lead to the Crusaders at home in round two, a week after they lost to the Chiefs in Dunedin, despite creating all the chances and dominating possession and territory.

‘‘We’re one from four, and we weren’t very good against the Hurricanes [41-15 loss]. But we should have beaten the Crusaders for sure and we were pretty rough execution wise against the Chiefs and pretty much gave them that game,’’ Brown said.

‘’’We could easily be three from four and sitting in a pretty good position. But where we are is one from four and we just need to make sure we prepare a little bit better, put on a better performance and be a little bit mentally tougher.’’

The Highlanders welcome back three players - winger Patrick Osborne, prop Siosuia Halanukonuka and hooker Greg Pleasants-Tate - from injury for the match, but are still without a bunch of players, including All Blacks Lima Sopoaga, Waisake Naholo and Liam Squire.