Rebels 2012

[Melbourne Terrace]

not so bad for him. Australian reserves league >>> Russian League. Surely he could be brought in if his form in preseason is better than some of the registered players? it is ages till the season starts. Did he get a game at northampton?

 

[lily]

Who does that Russian winger play for? I'm thinking he's in Europe somewhere because he's quality

Qwerty, Vasily Artemyev played Ireland Schools and 19's. He recently went back to the Motherland. So far this year for Northampton he has scored 6 tries in 6 games in the Aviva Premiership and Heineken Cup games.
A very promising talent but one I'd assume with those stats will be locked up in the North for quite some time.

 

[tigerland12]

Russia five-eighth Yuri Kushnarev begins training with Melbourne Rebels senior squad Russia World Cup five-eighth Yuri Kushnarev has joined Melbourne Rebels' development squad, which may lead to him securing a Super Rugby contract.



Kushnarev, 26, played three games for Russia at the World Cup in New Zealand, starting against the Wallabies and the US.

He was invited to train with the Rebels' rising squad through a connection with Rebels secondrower Adam Byrnes, who played for Russia at the World Cup.


But Kushnarev is now training with the Rebels' senior squad.

A concession from the ARU allows the Rebels to recruit up to 10 foreign players compared with only two for the other four Australian Super Rugby teams, the Reds, Brumbies, Force and Waratahs, and the Rebels have more than half those spots available.

While the Rebels have a number of players who can play five-eighth - Danny Cipriani, James O'Connor, Kurtley Beale, James Hilgendorf and Julian Huxley - they are keen to see how Kushnarev develops.

"Adam Byrnes asked us if there would be an opportunity for Yuri to train with us and we said it would be a fantastic idea," Rebels rugby manager Josh Philpot said.

"It's exciting to have him here. He has good communication skills and he is a good footy player. We didn't want him to be a token. We want it to be a real opportunity.

"We have plenty of foreign spots up our sleeve. This is an opportunity to develop a foreign player rather than sign one who is fully matured."

Training with the seniors now. Great for Russian rugby

 

[Lee Grant]

Welcome aboard Morrison.

Definitely is probably too strong a word. The only thing that is definite at the minute is that every team is undefeated.

The Crusaders played against extreme adversity yet still made the finals. They are probably entitled to favouritism.

The Stormers have failed in the last couple of years because they have trouble scoring tries when it matters.

The Reds will be contenders again. Everybody thinks about their exciting play but there is one other thing about their great success in 2011. They acquired the ability to win games that were winnable; something we saw glimpses of in 2010 but was full blown in 2011.

If they can do the same in 2012 they will be very hard to beat.


Woops - this is the Rebels thread; so we should not discuss this subject here.

 

[François]

Do you think the Rebels can pretend to a mid-table finish, based on the potential prowesses of the JOC (James O'Connor)- Cips - Beale combo ?

 

[Lee Grant]

No way unless their defence improves; but with Muggleton down there, that is possible..

 

[FiveStarStu]

Do you think the Rebels can pretend to a mid-table finish, based on the potential prowesses of the JOC (James O'Connor)- Cips - Beale combo ?

According to Damien Hill, anything apart from top 6 will be a disappointment. Good to see we're aiming high at least.

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

Do you think the Rebels can pretend to a mid-table finish, based on the potential prowesses of the JOC (James O'Connor)- Cips - Beale combo ?

I don't see Cips adding much prowess to that combo, however, i'll give him a free pass till the warm up games and see how he goes.

Despite his supposed efforts in the off season, i don't see how he's going to turn his defense around.

I'd have let him go back to england!

 

[fatprop]

According to Damien Hill, anything apart from top 6 will be a disappointment. Good to see we're aiming high at least.

I don't think they have the tight five to provide the platform frankly, or a backrow that will dominate at the tackle

 

[qwerty51]

Still not even one Wallaby in the pack, won't go anywhere.

 

[blues recovery]

Still not even one Wallaby in the pack, won't go anywhere.

Saffy , Pyle and maybe Weekes should be Wallaby players by this time next year. Robinson would be one if he was Oz eligible and Delve and Lipman are experienced internationals. Was not actually the forwards that were the main issue last year. lack of penetration in the backline and missed tackles in the backs .

 

[Slim 293]

Saffy , Pyle and maybe Weekes should be Wallaby players by this time next year.(1) Robinson would be one if he was Oz eligible(2) and Delve and Lipman are experienced internationals.(3) Was not actually the forwards that were the main issue last year. lack of penetration in the backline and missed tackles in the backs .

1. I don't know about should.
2. Would he?
3. Lipman...

 

[Army_Gav]

1. I don't know about should.
2. Would he?
3. Lipman...

- Saffy is up against Higgers.
- Weeks made the Aussie Baa Baas in 2010. Up against an experienced English pack though
- Pyle, is most likely, as is Jones. Funny enough, Jones was highlighted on a B&I Lions blog as a 2013 threat.

 

[Slim 293]

Pyle will certainly be pushing his case with a LOT of other good young locks...

Saffy is up against Higgers, Elsom, Mowen, and who knows who else in 2011...

Weeks seems to have taken a backwards step since leaving the Reds and couldn't make the Rebels XV for most of the year...

I would say he's now behind Kepu, Palmer, Slipper and Alexander for the TH role... but certainly he's got a long season of rugby to work his way back up...

 

[Ruggo]

- Saffy is up against Higgers.
- Weeks made the Aussie Baa Baas in 2010. Up against an experienced English pack though
- Pyle, is most likely, as is Jones. Funny enough, Jones was highlighted on a B&I Lions blog as a 2013 threat.

What did the Rebels not see in Weeks in 2011? He went from rhookie of the year to falling off the radar while they persisted with lesser players. Is there issues going on in the background?

 

[Ruggo]

I wouldn't say Weeks is behind Palmer. He gets a lot of praise on this forum but in reality he played a large portion of this year and didn't manage a look in from Wallaby selectors. Remember they took a gamble on Mafu who had little game time before Palmer.

 

[Slim 293]

Palmer was plagued with a foot injury this year that saw him miss half the Super Rugby season as well...

So he really had no chance of getting a look in anyways...

He was selected ahead of Ma'afu at the Brumbies, and his scrummaging was probably only matched by Kepu during the season...

But Ma'afu had already played a test season under Deans, and we're all quite familiar with how Deans likes to continue with his 'favourites'...

Didn't Pek Cowan make the tour?

 

[Ruggo]

The factual ponts you make there Slim are the reason he isn't really ahead of Weeks. I think both have are down the pecking order in reality. I think Palmer is more than capable of picking his work rate up and staking a claim but I don't think he is near the mark yet.

 

[Army_Gav]

Don't forget Somerville has retired, so that should put Weeks into the starting XV.

 

[Lee Grant]

Pyle is a future Wallaby IMO.