No Rebels swansong for Woodward
Jason Woodward has been ruled out of what would have been his final match for the Melbourne Rebels before returning to his homeland of New Zealand.
The prolific Kiwi fullback was ruled out of the clash with the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Friday with a back complaint and finishes his Rebels career with 210 points, including six tries in 26 matches.
The injury was sustained in the Rebels' defeat to the Lions at Ellis Park last week which was Woodward's last after two years with the Melbourne side as he returns to New Zealand to chase his dream of playing for the All Blacks.
"I'm pretty gutted," Woodward said.
"I went up for a high ball, a restart last week and landed on my back.
"I played the rest of the game but it's been pretty niggly. I don't really want to let the boys down by being out there and not play at my best."
Telusa Veainu will move from the wing to fullback while Alex Rokobaro will come off the bench to play in the No.14 jersey.
Rebels lock Sam Jeffries will be elevated to the bench for what will be his Super Rugby debut if called upon.
Rebels (Revised): 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Alex Rokobaro, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Mitch Inman, 11 Tom English, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Colby Fainga'a, 7 Scott Fuglistaller (captain), 6 Luke Jones, 5 Cadeyrn Neville, 4 Hugh Pyle, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Toby Smith.
Replacements: 16 Pat Leafa, 17 Cruze Ah-Nau, 18 Paul Alo-Emile, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Lopeti Timani, 21 Jordy Reid, 22 Nic Stirzaker, 23 Lalakai Foketi.
Date: Friday, 11 July
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT; 03.10 Saturday AEST)
Referee: Rohan Hoffmann
Assistant referee: Stuart Berry, Sieg van Staden
TMO: Johan Greeff
