Wallabies flanker George Smith will captain the Brumbies for the first time this weekend after Stirling Mortlock was ruled out through injury.

Mortlock will miss Friday's Super 14 match against the Hurricanes in Wellington with the centre still suffering neck soreness and a bruised jaw after a high tackle from the Reds' Lloyd Johansson in the Brumbies 6-3 win last weekend.

Vice captain Alister Campbell has also been ruled out with a foot injury, leaving 84-cap veteran Smith to lead the side.

"It's a great honour to captain a side that has such a tradition of producing excellent leaders," said Smith, who captained Australia A on the recent Wallaby European Tour and will become the seventh player to lead the Brumbies.

"I'm fortunate to have a lot of very experienced players alongside me like George (Gregan), Bernie (Stephen Larkham) and JP (Jeremy Paul), so I'm really looking forward to it."

Brumbies head coach Laurie Fisher said: "It's a tremendous opportunity for George. He's been a part of our leadership group this year and he's captained Australia A, so he's a player that we know has excellent leadership qualities.

"He's very much a lead-by-example style player and we've got every confidence that he'll do a good job of leading the side on Friday."

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