The Brumbies must travel to New Zealand without first choice flyhalf Matt Toomua to make their task against the Chiefs on Friday that much more difficult.

Toomua suffered the medial ligament damage to his knee early in the 24-23 win against the Cheetahs last Saturday, but played the entire game.

The 22-year-old is expected to be out for up to four weeks, which opens the door for Christian Lealiifano to shift back to flyhalf from inside centre.

Veteran lock Ben Hand is one of the surprise omissions from the touring squad, having failed to impress White against the Cheetahs.

Wallaby utility back Pat McCabe made his return to rugby against the Cheetahs on the wing, but could switch to the midfield should Lealiifano be deployed at flyhalf.

McCabe had shoulder surgery after last year's World Cup, and a starting berth at centre would test his shoulder against the powerful Chiefs duo of Sonny Bill Williams and Richard Kahui.

"It'd be a good way to get back into the centres to have a good test like that," McCabe told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"I didn't have to make too many tackles [against the Cheetahs] so it's [the shoulder] feeling pretty good. I was pretty nervous about it going into the game so to get through without any problems was a pretty big relief."

Having been part of the team's first two wins, Scott Fardy has booked himself a seat on the tour and a chance to take on a Kiwi team for the first time in his short career.

"To grab a win over in New Zealand is always a really tough assignment, and the Chiefs have been one of the form teams on the competition at this point," Fardy said.

"Moving into this week we need to be more precise than what we have over the first couple of rounds. If we can stay focussed there's no reason we won't return to Australia with a win."

Brumbies squad: Ben Alexander, Sam Carter, Scott Fardy, Anthony Hegarty, Zack Holmes, Michael Hooper, Peter Kimlin, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Lealiifano, Pat McCabe, Jesse Mogg, Stephen Moore, Ben Mowen, Ruaidhri Murphy, Dan Palmer, Leon Power, Ian Prior, Andrew Smith, Henry Speight, Joe Tomane, Ita Vaea, Nic White.