The Rebel Alliance heads over to the Death Star to do battle with the Force on Saturday evening, still on a high after coming back from 0–17 to defeat the Hurricanes in front of their vocal home crowd last weekend. The Force are at home after a demoralising defeat to the Stormers.
The Rebels are in the unfamiliar position of being higher on the ladder than their opponents, and will look to keep it that way, after showing an underwhelming Hurricanes outfit clean heels from the 20th minute onwards last week. The Force, having already shown that they (like the Rebels) can lose by significant margins, will be eager to make amends for last week, and leapfrog the Melbournites on the competition and conference tables.
The Rebels have made a few changes, to account for injured and returning players. The bad news is the dynamite winger, “Sooper” Cooper Vuna is out, but on the flipside, Henderson is back after a rest, along with O’Neill and Gerrard who have both had a few weeks on the sidelines. A little backline reshuffle sees Kingi on the wing, and Rooney switching sides to the 11 jersey.
Henderson back as starting loosehead is a good choice in my opinion; Rodzilla, though he scored a try against the Canes, was poor in defence and lacked mobility at times. O’Neill, the Admiral Ackbar of the line-out, will shore up what has been a problem over the last few weeks, thus sending Adam “Chewbacca” Byrnes to play for the Rebel Rising in the opener. The return of Gerrard and his super boot will buoy the Rebels’ spirits, and hopefully be the proton torpedo through the thermal exhaust port for the Force….
The Force have just two minor changes to their line up this week: Nathan Charles jumps into the starting hooker’s jersey, after raking up some decent minutes off the bench so far this season. Gene Fairbanks, a late withdrawal against the Stormers (though if you ask some commentators he was playing), returns to the No. 12 spot, which should provide some stability in the injury-depleted Force backline. Darth Bieber (a.k.a. James O’Connor) keeps the No. 10 jersey after Ripia failed on fitness, and will look to play another stellar game with ball in hand and on boot, making it harder for Willie to regain the prize.
The scrums should be solid, and I expect to see Yoda and the ex-Force Henderson winning the contest against the journeyman Cowan and the departing Fairbrother. The big battle will be the back row clash; though the Force are missing the IRB Player of the Year 2010 (excluding cheats, of course) in Pocock, they still have Wallaby tourists in Dick Brown, Matt Hodgson, and Ben McCalman, who will be going up against the Saffa-Aus Jarrod Saffy, the Aussie-Pom Michael Lipman, and the Asian-Welsh Gareth Delve. Whoever wins this battle wins the game for mine.
Look for a lot more line-outs from the Rebels, taking advantage of O’Neill’s return, and a lot less in-field long kicking from Cipriani. And expect James O’Connor to try to exploit the apparent defensive weaknesses of Lachie Mitchell. Cipriani’s kicking should be better than his abysmal efforts last week in blustery Melbourne: a Rebel Army loyalist has put a bottle of vodka behind the posts, promising that it’s his if he hits it.
Lance Free says: The Force have been relatively consistent in the early stages of the competition, notwithstanding last week’s Stormers loss. The Rebels have been all over the place, which is not unexpected for a brand new team. This game was going to be the battle of the Oz conference cellar-dwellers but I think the Brumbies are starting to challenge for that title! Force at home = win by 11.
Travis Tee says: The Rebels showed they know how to win a game before the 80th minute last week, and the inclusion of Gerrard and O’Neill this week should only help them. Unfortunately they don’t know how to travel, and this being “the other week” when they typically struggle for form doesn’t bode well. Nonetheless, I tip the Rebel Alliance to prove their critics wrong about travelling, and to repeat the original trilogy efforts by beating the bad guys on their own turf — Rebels out with a point to prove by 8.
Teams:
Force: 1. Pek Cowan, 2. Nathan Charles, 3. Tim Fairbrother, 4. Sam Wykes, 5. Nathan Sharpe (c), 6. Richard Brown, 7. Matt Hodgson (vc), 8. Ben McCalman, 9. Brett Sheehan, 10. James O’Connor, 11. David Smith, 12. Gene Fairbanks, 13. Nick Cummins, 14. Alfie Mafi, 15. Cameron Shepherd. Reserves: 16. Ben Whittaker, 17. Kieran Longbottom, 18. Tom Hockings, 19. Tevita Metuisela, 20. James Stannard, 21. Matt Brandon, 22. Pat Dellit.
Rebels: 1. Nic Henderson, 2. Ged Robinson, 3. Greg Somerville, 4. Alister Campbell, 5. Kevin O’Neill, 6. Jarrod Saffy, 7. Michael Lipman, 8. Gareth Delve (vc), 9. Nick Phipps, 10. Danny Cipriani, 11. Luke Rooney, 12. Stirling Mortlock (c), 13. Lachlan Mitchell, 14. Richard Kingi, 15. Mark Gerrard. Reserves: 16. Luke Holmes, 17. Laurie Weeks, 18. Hugh Pyle, 19. Tim Davidson, 20. Sam Cordingley, 21. Peter Betham, 22. Afusipa Taumoepeau.
