'Rock stars' to start for Rebels
Two of the Rebels’ high-profile imports, James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale, return from injury to take their places in the starting XV that will face the Highlanders in Invercargill on Saturday.
Rebels coach Damien Hill was able to name an unchanged pack, but the return of his two stars and the injury-enforced absence of another means he had to reshuffle his backline.
Danny Cipriani, who is heading back to England at the end of the season, is out with a hamstring injury, but O’Connor – who recovered from a hamstring injury – will start at flyhalf.
While many pundits feel O’Connor is best suite to play inside centre, he will feature at No.10.
Beale (calf) returns from injury to take the place of Julian Huxley at fullback, with the latter dropping down to the bench.
Rebels coach Damien Hill said his troops were up for the challenge of taking on one of the tournament’s top sides.
“They are four from five this year and playing really good football, but the team’s very confident,” said Hill.
“It’s a hard place to play, but we’re all looking forward to it.”
Melbourne Rebels: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Lachlan Mitchell, 12 Lloyd Johansson, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 James O’Connor, 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 Michael Lipman, 20 Nic Stirzaker, 21 James Hilgendorf, 22 Julian Huxley.
Date: Friday, March 30
Venue: Rugby Park, Invercargill
Kick-off: 19.35 (17.35 AEDT; 06.35 GMT)
Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Vinny Munro (New Zealand), Lourens van der Merwe* (South Africa)
TMO: Kane McBride (New Zealand)
