blues recovery
Billy Sheehan (19)
Hip Injury one week
Melbourne Rebels 2011
- Thread starter RugbyFuture
- Start date
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DPK
Peter Sullivan (51)
Hip replacement? He's around that age, isn't he?
N
Newter
Guest
You sure? That first half side looks like the probables XV to me. All the big signings are in there, who aren't injured.
If that's the case, it's pretty interesting to see Cooper Vuna and Laurie Weeks down the pecking order.
N
Newter
Guest
Italics hard to read? Try the link.
observer
Tom Lawton (22)
Looks pretty even to me.
en_force_er
Geoff Shaw (53)
Du Plessis 2 quarters. It probably means nothing but I'm looking forward to getting a good squiz of a bloke who was a prodigious schoolboy talent.
T
tranquility
Guest
I wonder why Vuna is being groomed as 12? he must be more skillful than I realised, I had him pegged as an outside back specialist for scoring meat pies.
C
CanadianRugby
Guest
Not that these lineups mean much right now, but interesting that Chamberlin is playing 7 and Davidson is playing 8. Chamberling played a lot of 6 for the Blues last year. Didn't I read correctly that Davidson usually plays 7? Not living in Oz I could be wrong about this, but I was pretty sure that was the case.
dobduff11
Trevor Allan (34)
Apparently Cips is vice captain for the match v Tonga
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...elbourne-Rebels-give-him-leadership-role.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...elbourne-Rebels-give-him-leadership-role.html
en_force_er
Geoff Shaw (53)
Chamberlain was never high up the Blues pecking order and perhaps he just got game-time where he could. He's always been an open-sider for North Harbour at ITM Cup level and debuted for the Blues as an open-side in 2008 I think.
I actually thought he would end up playing 6 to be honest, seeing as he doesn't fit the Aussie/Kiwi open-side mold but the Saffas have proven over time that a player of this type at 7 can be effective.
He was one of the players I was most enthusiastic to see the Rebels sign as he is a great player that's been overlooked for higher honours in NZ and at only 23 or 24 he really could be anything.
Yeah but I think this is based on the Number 8 leads the forwards, Number 10 leads the backs theory.
B
Burke's Boot
Guest
Seems like the recovering Mungo had a good game:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/r...in-against-tonga/story-e6frfgkf-1225988459770
IT WAS anything but a subduded curtain-raiser for the city's newest sporting franchise, but the Melbourne Rebels played and won their first ever game against Tonga at Olympic Park.
Seven tries, including three to rugby league convert Cooper Vuna, was enough to see the Rebels overcome the Pacific Island nation 36-13 in front of 8123 fans in what was the last football match of any code at the historic ground.
If the club was looking for a lazy tune-up in the first of its four trial games before its debut Super Rugby season next month then it picked the wrong side to play, as Tonga's phyiscality and unpredictable style of play proved too much at times for the Rebels, particularly in the first half.
But after going in to the break with a 13-12 lead, fatigue was always going to be a factor for the tourists in the closing stages, especially as the Rebels fielded almost two entirely different line-ups in the first and second half.
Six members from what is likely to be the side's first-string line-up - Stirling Mortlock (back), Adam Freier (back), Julian Huxley (osteitis pubis), Luke Rooney (calf), Sam Cordingly (hip) and Mark Gerrard - were unavailable.
However, in a Rebels side that possesses a combined 229 Test and 760 Super Rugby caps - as well as three former NRL players - it was three youngsters in the backline that led the way, giving coach Rod MadQueen some welcome selection headaches heading in to the season proper.
Scrumhalf Richard Kingi, 21, centre Lachlan Mitchell, 23, and winger JP du Plessis, 19, were superb for Melbourne, proving to be a constant menace for the Tongan defence for the entire 80 minutes.
Kingi, in particular, provided the side with an added spark after coming on at half time, setting up two tries for Vuna and another for Mitchell in his first 15 minutes on the field.
The conditions were more akin to a game in Tonga itself, with a warm 25 degrees greeting the players at kickoff on a ground still baring the effects of days of constant rain.
But the Rebels handled the greasy ball the better in the opening stages and threatened to blow the game out early, with Afusipa Taumoepeau and du Plessis scoring tries within the first 10 minutes.
The Tongan's fought back, though, and should have had a greater lead at the break only for poor ball handling to let them down several times before the break with the try line in sight.
Enter Vuna, who had his hattrick only 18 minutes after coming on to the pitch _ his third the end result of a razzle-dazzle move that saw six of the Rebels' seven-man backline touch the ball at one point or another.
The two sides meet again in Morwell on Friday night.
The Rebels make their Super Rugby debut on February 18 against the NSW Waratahs.
Melbourne Rebels 43 (tries Cooper Vuna 3, Afusipa Taumoepeau, JP du Plessis, Lachlan Mitchell, Peter Betham; conversions James Hilgendorf 2, Danny Cipriani, Richard Kingi) defeated Tonga 13 (try Taumei Hikila; penalties Viliami Hakalo 2; conversion Hakalo)
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/r...in-against-tonga/story-e6frfgkf-1225988459770
IT WAS anything but a subduded curtain-raiser for the city's newest sporting franchise, but the Melbourne Rebels played and won their first ever game against Tonga at Olympic Park.
Seven tries, including three to rugby league convert Cooper Vuna, was enough to see the Rebels overcome the Pacific Island nation 36-13 in front of 8123 fans in what was the last football match of any code at the historic ground.
If the club was looking for a lazy tune-up in the first of its four trial games before its debut Super Rugby season next month then it picked the wrong side to play, as Tonga's phyiscality and unpredictable style of play proved too much at times for the Rebels, particularly in the first half.
But after going in to the break with a 13-12 lead, fatigue was always going to be a factor for the tourists in the closing stages, especially as the Rebels fielded almost two entirely different line-ups in the first and second half.
Six members from what is likely to be the side's first-string line-up - Stirling Mortlock (back), Adam Freier (back), Julian Huxley (osteitis pubis), Luke Rooney (calf), Sam Cordingly (hip) and Mark Gerrard - were unavailable.
However, in a Rebels side that possesses a combined 229 Test and 760 Super Rugby caps - as well as three former NRL players - it was three youngsters in the backline that led the way, giving coach Rod MadQueen some welcome selection headaches heading in to the season proper.
Scrumhalf Richard Kingi, 21, centre Lachlan Mitchell, 23, and winger JP du Plessis, 19, were superb for Melbourne, proving to be a constant menace for the Tongan defence for the entire 80 minutes.
Kingi, in particular, provided the side with an added spark after coming on at half time, setting up two tries for Vuna and another for Mitchell in his first 15 minutes on the field.
The conditions were more akin to a game in Tonga itself, with a warm 25 degrees greeting the players at kickoff on a ground still baring the effects of days of constant rain.
But the Rebels handled the greasy ball the better in the opening stages and threatened to blow the game out early, with Afusipa Taumoepeau and du Plessis scoring tries within the first 10 minutes.
The Tongan's fought back, though, and should have had a greater lead at the break only for poor ball handling to let them down several times before the break with the try line in sight.
Enter Vuna, who had his hattrick only 18 minutes after coming on to the pitch _ his third the end result of a razzle-dazzle move that saw six of the Rebels' seven-man backline touch the ball at one point or another.
The two sides meet again in Morwell on Friday night.
The Rebels make their Super Rugby debut on February 18 against the NSW Waratahs.
Melbourne Rebels 43 (tries Cooper Vuna 3, Afusipa Taumoepeau, JP du Plessis, Lachlan Mitchell, Peter Betham; conversions James Hilgendorf 2, Danny Cipriani, Richard Kingi) defeated Tonga 13 (try Taumei Hikila; penalties Viliami Hakalo 2; conversion Hakalo)
Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
Some extra comment after the game:
"That's a good example of how much Kingi has benefited from Cordingley because they've been working together and playing alongside each other at training and so on," Macqueen said.
"Certainly he did have a good game. There was some really good things there, there's no doubt about that."
Macqueen said he was relatively happy with the performance overall.
"I think when there's mistakes you learn a lot, so there was plenty of learning to be done because there was a lot of mistakes out there," he said.
"But the whole idea of this was not about winning and losing it was about trying a lot of things and we did try a lot of things.
"I've got to say, Tonga was interesting because normally they're a side that throws the ball around everywhere, so they totally surprised us by playing a very dour, forwards-orientated game.
"We're probably where we expected (to be). I would have loved to have thought we'd come out here and play like we'd played together all of our lives, but that was never going to be the case."
"That's a good example of how much Kingi has benefited from Cordingley because they've been working together and playing alongside each other at training and so on," Macqueen said.
"Certainly he did have a good game. There was some really good things there, there's no doubt about that."
Macqueen said he was relatively happy with the performance overall.
"I think when there's mistakes you learn a lot, so there was plenty of learning to be done because there was a lot of mistakes out there," he said.
"But the whole idea of this was not about winning and losing it was about trying a lot of things and we did try a lot of things.
"I've got to say, Tonga was interesting because normally they're a side that throws the ball around everywhere, so they totally surprised us by playing a very dour, forwards-orientated game.
"We're probably where we expected (to be). I would have loved to have thought we'd come out here and play like we'd played together all of our lives, but that was never going to be the case."
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