Being a support act is tricky assignment. You go on stage, do your damnedest to
impress, and are rewarded by luke-warm applause and an impatient tapping of
feet from an audience who are simply waiting for the real show to start. And that’s if you’re lucky – the less patient
crowds will cheerily burn an effigy with your face on it if you are detracting
in anyway whatsoever from the main event.
So it would seem fair to predict that the game between the Brumbies and
the Rebels on Friday night won’t be a firecracker match supported by manic fans
with well-oiled vocal chords; they are playing in the shadow of a Lions Tour
and in the aftermath of a State of Origin match after all. But you’d be dead wrong.
Canberra doesn’t concern itself with League – the State of
Origin doesn’t involve them – but the Brumbies team is a source of pride. And this new crop has the best shot at taking
Super Rugby honours since the giddy days of Larkham and Gregan – if that’s not
enough to spur on the locals, I don’t know what is. The fact that the Brumbies are just a bonus
point win away from securing their place in the knockouts should ensure a
fanatical level of support to help get them across the line – a level of
support made easier by the fact that they are watching one of the most
attractive rugby playing sides in the southern hemisphere club
competition. And of course they have a
Lions game themselves to look forward to.
And for the Rebels?
Sure, Melbourne is big on Aussie Rules and is in prime rugby league territory, with the Storm usually up
there in the NRL, but they’re not involved in State of Origin either and,
besides, their union side is so crammed full of star quality that you can’t
help to be drawn in. OK, most of those big
names are either on international duty, injured or taking a break from the
sauce, but there’s still a talented group of players performing for a side who
are on the up, as they’ve shown with some great wins this year. A win against the Brumbies would set them up
nicely for the visit of the Lions and also confirm their move away from the ‘basement
club’ status they’ve had over the last couple of years, leaving the Force
trailing in the process.
Side show or not, this isn’t a dead rubber in the Super
Rugby world. And that’ll be enough to
make this the main event for 80 minutes, for the 30 blokes on the pitch and
those lucky enough to be watching on Friday night.
The Brumbies team sheet shows five changes to the team that
beat the Hurricanes last weekend.
With the absence of five Wallabies players and a shoulder
dislocation to Fotu Auelua, the Brumbies have re-jigged the forward pack to
include Leon Power at lock, Scott Fardy at blind-side flanker and Peter Kimlin
at No 8. Siliva Siliva will start at
hooker and Dan Palmer returns to the starting side at tight-head prop. Also returning to the starting side is Wallaby
Pat McCabe at inside centre in place of Christian Lealiifano. Clyde Rathbone
slides onto Joe Tomane's wing and the rest of last week's backline remains
intact.
Starting Line up: Jesse Mogg; Henry Speight, Tevita
Kuridrani, Pat McCabe, Clyde Rathbone; Matt Toomua, Nic White (captain); Peter
Kimlin, Colby Faingaa, Scott Fardy; Sam Carter, Leon Power; Dan Palmer, Siliva
Siliva, Scott Sio.
Subs: Joshua
Mann-Rea, Ruan Smith, Etienne Oosthuizen, Jordan Smiler, Ian Prior, Robbie
Coleman, Zack Holmes.Key Player
Pat McCabe. The
powerful centre has had a rotten time of it with injuries of late, making my
torn acl seem pretty trivial by comparison, but he will be wanting to make this
comeback stick and maybe even throw his hat into the ring as a late shout for a
Wallaby spot against the Lions. Hard
carrying and real brute in defence, he would certainly add some beef to an area
where the Australians are light and the Lions are heavy. Against the Rebels though, McCabe will be
fully concentrated on trying pressurise young stand-in stand-off Bryce Hegarty
into making mistakes.
Rebels Team News
The Melbourne Rebels have named a team with ten changes to
the one that lost to the Reds for this weekend's Super Rugby match against the
Brumbies. Luke Burgess will return to
Super Rugby from the bench, arriving from France on Monday morning. The 37 Test
halfback spent time in Canberra as part of the Brumbies Squad in the 2003 and
2007 seasons, before joining the Waratahs and gaining Wallabies selection. Following
injuries to Scott Higginbotham, Hugh Pyle and Jarrod Saffy, Gareth Delve
returns to the starting team as Captain, while Luke Jones and Jordy Reid join
Cadeyrn Neville and Scott Fuglistaller in the back five. With their Wallaby
preliminary squad selection, Nick Phipps and James O'Connor will both be
unavailable for the Round 17 derby, and Nic Stirzaker and Bryce Hegarty are
both promoted to the starting team. Shota Horie returns to Osaka for
international duties, giving Pat Leafa his first opportunity to play Super
Rugby.
Starting Line
up: Jason Woodward; Tom English,
Mitch Inman, Rory Sidey, Lachlan Mitchell; Bryce Hegarty, Nic Stirzaker; Gareth
Delve (captain), Scott Fuglistaller, Jordy Reid; Luke Jones, Cadeyrn Neville;
Laurie Weeks, Ged Robinson, Nic Henderson.
Subs: Pat Leafa,
Paul Alo-Emile, James King, Tim Davidson, Luke Burgess, James Hilgendorf,
Kimami Sitauti.
Key Player
Bryce Hegarty. The 20
year old fly half will be placed under extreme pressure by a physical Brumbies
back row and centre combination, but if he keeps his head like he’s shown he
can, he will be fine. Blessed with quick
feet and a sharp brain, the young 10 will need to ensure he is vocal and bossy to
those much more experienced than he is so he can have all options available to
relieve the pressure off his shoulders.
Peter Kimlin v Gareth Delve.
With key carriers and leaders Ben Mowen and Scott Higginbotham off with
the Wallabies and medics respectively, the two number 8s on Friday will have a
huge role to play in putting their sides on the front foot and organising the
defence. With 2 backlines capable of
causing damage, they will need to be at their marauding best to suck in as many
defenders as possible to give the pretty boys as much room as possible to do
their thing. Whoever wins the carries
and yardage battles, probably wins his side the game.
Prediction
Whilst the Rebels have looked in very decent nick of late,
going to play the Brumbies on their patch is a massively tough assignment, even
if the hosts are missing key players to the Wallabies. I can see the rather enticing incentive of
securing the Aussie conference with a bonus point win being enough to drive
this exciting young Brumbies side onto victory on Friday. Brumbies
by 12.
Waratahs v
Force: The Force will have a
near-full strength side out thanks to their much-criticised decision to rest
players against the Lions, but I still don’t think it will be enough to turn
over a Waratahs side still in with a slim shot of sneaking into the
playoffs. Home advantage will make the
difference. Tahs by 6.
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