The ACT Brumbies are confident they've got the prop depth to cover the absence of Wallaby Scott Sio, who is in danger of missing the mid-year Test series after injuring his knee.
The Brumbies hope to get clarity on Sio's injury timeframe on Thursday after the 25-year-old had more scans to determine the extent of damage to his ligaments.
It is expected Sio could be ruled out for as long as three or four months or as little as a handful of weeks.
Sio's front-row partner Allan Alaalatoa said the forwards had to lift to replace one of their leaders and make amends for some scrum punishment against the Wellington Hurricanes last weekend.
The Brumbies are trying to avoid a hat-trick of losses for the first time since 2011 and need to topple the Auckland Blues at Canberra Stadium on Sunday to get their Super Rugby season back on track.
Kiwi-born Nic Mayhew will likely be called on to fill the loosehead prop spot against his former Blues teammates while Les Leuluailii-Makin is set to be added to the match-day squad.
Sio appeared to injure his knee in the first scrum of the game against the Hurricanes as the forward pack was shunted backwards.
"It was good to have Scotty by our side but to see him go down really early [last weekend] was really disappointing," Alaalatoa said.
"We're hoping for the best. Our first-half scrum last week was very disappointing ... it took us too long to react to that.
"We've got some looseheads all pushing for spots so we're very confident with the depth that we do have in that position.
"We made some clinical errors [last week] ... it was very disappointing, a lot of the boys were a bit devastated but we're lucky we've got another opportunity to come out strong."
Sio's injury blow is a fresh hit to the Brumbies squad, which is also missing Kyle Godwin, Jordan Smiler, Lausii Taliauli and Christian Lealiifano.
The 29-Test Wallaby is regarded as one of the best loosehead props in Australian rugby and was the favourite to earn the No. 1 jersey for the mid-year Test series.
The Brumbies are hoping Sio will be cleared of major damage and will spend minimal time on the sideline after a hamstring injury delayed his start to the season.
The Hurricanes went on a second-half rampage to beat the Brumbies 56-21 last weekend.
The Brumbies have won four of their past six home games against the Blues, but Australian teams have lost the first 14 trans-Tasman derbies this year.
The Brumbies haven't beaten a New Zealand side since round one last year and are determined to spark a form turnaround after losses to the Melbourne Rebels and the Hurricanes.
"It's very important for us to come out strong on Sunday, seeing where we sit at in the Australian conference and the competition as a whole," Alaalatoa said.
"We need to get our preparation right every day. We looked at ourselves hard this week and it was pretty tough after a loss last week ... we'll be looking to redeem ourselves this week."
SUPER RUGBY ROUND 10
Sunday: ACT Brumbies v Auckland Blues at Canberra Stadium, 4.05pm. Tickets available from Ticketek.
