Cipriani to pull the Rebels strings
The Rebels have opted to bring flyhalf Danny Cipriani back into the starting line-up to give James O’Connor a little more time and space at inside centre against the Force on Saturday.
The move comes after the combination was effective in the second half of last week’s match with the Cheetahs, after O’Connor was swamped by defenders too often while at flyhalf.
The problem for the Rebels is that O’Connor is key to their success and he is the outstanding playmaker in the team and will there fore be heavily marked.
Scrumhalf Nick Phipps also returns to the No.9 jersey, while Richard Kingi shifts out to fullback, where he played on several occasions last season.
“The combination of Nick [Phipps], Danny [Cipriani] and James [O’Connor] worked well towards the end of the match last week so we’ve kept with that, while Richard Kingi is an evasive and illusive runner so we’d like him to spark the back three,” Rebels coach Damian Hill said.
The only change to the pack sees Jarrod Saffy take over at openside flank from Tim Davidson, who drops onto the bench. English flank Michael Lipman also takes up a place on the pine this season, having recovered from a back injury.
The bench is loaded with a five/two split in an effort to counter the western Force pack of forwards later in the game.
“The Force are known for their fantastic back row who are all international quality and they also have Nathan Sharpe in the tight five to lead them round the paddock,” Hill added.
Rebels: 15 Richard Kingi, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Lachlan Mitchell, 12 James O’Connor, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Gareth Delve (captain), 7 Tom Chamberlain, 6 Jarrod Saffy, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 Adam Freier, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 Ged Robinson, 17 Rodney Blake, 18 Alister Campbell, 19 Tim Davidson, 20 Michael Lipman, 21 Lloyd Johansson, 22 Julian Huxley.
Date: Friday, March 23
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Kick-off: 19.40 AEDT (16.40 AWST; 08.40 GMT)
Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Andrew Lees (Australia)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Australia)
