Friday night at the Stockade, surprise packet newcomers the Melbourne Rebels take on the Highlanders in a middle-of-the-table clash that may define both teams’ seasons.
The visitors are coming off a close win at home over the cellar-dwelling Cheetahs. Though they have a healthy five-from-seven record so far and 25 points tabled, they’re being kept out of the six on aggregate by the Sharks. And with the Sharks beached for this round, the Clan would love to rack up a bonus-point win.
So the pressure is all on them, not on the Rebels. The debutants know that with three wins notched to date they’ve already exceeded expectations for 2011, and are free to play naturally with no thoughts of the table and the finals race. Fresh from the bye, they’ll surely be hungry for more success.
Coach Rod Macqueen has reshuffled his backline — or has he? Those who watched the one-point win over the Force in Round 7 will have seen Mark Gerrard (wearing no. 15) playing mostly at outside centre, Lachie Mitchell (in 13) out on the wing, and Richard Kingi (in 14) at fullback. This week those players have the numbers to match their new roles.
In other changes “Sooper” Cooper Vuna is back from light duties (i.e. DJing) in WA and takes the other starting wing spot, pushing Luke Rooney to the bench and Peter Betham to the stands, and Rodzilla Blake regains the No. 1 jersey, leaving Nic Henderson in his trackies. The bench weighting is 5:2, with Kingi designated as the sub for halfback Nick Phipps if required. Reserve loosies Tim Davidson and Hoani MacDonald are both strong at No. 8, so we might see the end of Gareth Delve’s record as the only Rebel to have played every minute of every match.
In their only change the Highlanders have confined serial pest Jimmy Cowan to the pine, allowing Aaron Smith to start at halfback for the first time this year. Unfortunately this leaves perhaps 30 minutes at best for the Rebels to behead, injure, dismember or just generally smash everyone’s most hated scrum-half.
There’s a potentially entertaining match-up in the backs. Kade Poki was a revelation for the Highlanders in the early rounds and had scored three tries by Round 3, but a knee injury has kept him out of sight since then. He lines up against Vuna, who’s back from his own injury. Both players are able to dodge and weave their way through defences like a child evading vegies.
The other battles to watch are in the forwards. Clan hero Adam Thomson has had a stellar start to the season and Nasi Manu hasn’t exactly been lax. Opposite them, the Saffy-Lipman-Delve back row is running high on confidence. It will be a clash of tactics as well as bodies: the Highlanders loosies like to pour into the breakdown and have been winning possession there, while the Rebels’ combo have not been over-committing, just waiting for their opponents to get frustrated and make an error.
Up front, Clan captain Jamie Mackintosh — who has been great so far this year, both in the scrums and as a ball-carrier — lines up against veteran AB Greg Somerville. In Yoda’s last few games he has turned up the heat in attack play: going into halfback, picking and going, distributing the ball to his colleagues. Look for the old master to win a few penalties by exposing Mackintosh’s flaws in the scrums.
Overall, we can expect to see the Highlanders playing a game plan based on speed and intensity; they’ll be trying especially to dominate the breakdown from defence. Danny Cipriani, Gerrard and to a lesser extent Kingi will try to keep the visitors down their own end as much as possible, with bananas, grubbers, torpedoes, and Gerrard’s soccer goalie-style 60-metre punts.
I expect the rejuvenated Rebels to get up over the tiring Highlanders in a free-flowing contest. Rebels by 9.
Teams:
Rebels: 1. Rodney Blake, 2. Ged Robinson, 3. Greg Somerville, 4. Alister Campbell, 5. Hugh Pyle, 6. Jarrod Saffy, 7. Michael Lipman, 8. Gareth Delve (vc), 9. Nick Phipps, 10. Danny Cipriani, 11. Cooper Vuna, 12. Stirling Mortlock (c), 13. Mark Gerrard, 14. Lachlan Mitchell, 15. Richard Kingi. Reserves: 16. Heath Tessmann, 17. Laurie Weeks, 18. Adam Byrne, 19. Tim Davidson, 20. Hoani MacDonald, 21. Luke Rooney, 22. Afusipa Taumoepeau.
Highlanders: 1. Jamie Mackintosh (c), 2. Jason Rutledge, 3. Chris King, 4. Jarrad Hoeata, 5. Josh Bekhuis, 6. Adam Thomson, 7. Alando Soakai, 8. Nasi Manu, 9. Aaron Smith, 10. Colin Slade, 11. Siale Piutau, 12. Shaun Treeby, 13. Kendrick Lynn, 14. Kade Poki, 15. Ben Smith. Reserves: 16. Brayden Mitchell, 17. David Te Moana, 18. Tom Donnelly, 19. Nick Crosswell, 20. Jimmy Cowan, 21. Robbie Robinson, 22. James Paterson.
Friday 15 April, 7.40pm AEST
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Referee: Garratt Williamson
