Melbourne coach Dave Wessels says the Rebels are a “good team that played badly” in Japan but that hasn’t stopped him making several changes in his forward pack to meet the Brumbies on Friday.
The Rebels were dusted 36-27 by the makeshift Sunwolves in a poor opening round loss in Fukuoka, and Wessels said players and coaches were majorly chastened from the passive showing.
Wessels conceded he may have sent in his senior players “undercooked” without only 40 minutes of trial time, and having identified a lack of intensity in all aspects of their work, the Rebels are itching to get onto the field to meet the Brumbies in Canberra.
📣TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT
— Melbourne Rebels (@MelbourneRebels) February 5, 2020
Here is your team to face @BrumbiesRugby in Canberra this Friday night!#MarchWithUs pic.twitter.com/yAVxgH8Vrh
“We were very unhappy with our performance in round one and that’s not to take anything away from the Sunwolves, they played very well,” Wessels said.
“But we weren’t happy with our level of physicality in the game, that’s where it started and we looked at that hard this week. We need to better on Friday night, we will be better on Friday night.
“Our boys have a history of playing against the Brumbies ansd enjoy going to Canberra so we kind of want to play the game now and try and get last Saturday’s game out of the mind as quick as we can.”
Expecting a set-piece onslaught from the Brumbies, Wessels has replaced two-thirds of his front row, with a fresh Matt Gibbon replacing Fereti Sa’aga at no.1 and Ruan Smith coming in for Jermaine Ainsley at tighthead.
Experienced former Brumbies and Waratahs backrower Michael Wells takes the no.7 from Rob Leota.
Wallaby Luke Jones is out with back soreness but that means a debut for 120kg South African recruit Gideon Koegelenberg on a 6-2 bench.
The backline is unchanged but former Force halfback Ryan Louwrens, having arrived late from Japan, takes the reserve halfback slot and Campbell Magnay returns from injury in the bench slot of Andrew Deegan.
Wessels said the team were highly motivated to get to Canberra and makes amends for their loss to the Sunwolves.
“We are a good team that played badly. I don’t think we are a bad team,” Wessels said.
“Maybe the responsibility is on me, some of the senior guys only playing 40 minutes of a trial, maybe they were slightly undercooked for the game. I am not too sure but we certainly aren’t going to make that mistake twice.
“We feel like we have let each other down to be honest and that’s a good thing, maybe we didn’t have enough of that last week.
“We have had a disappointing round one but as we have learned in the past, Super Rugby is not won in round one. Hopefully this is a turning point in our season.
“We know what the Brumbies bring, they bring a very set-piece oriented game so we have to make sure we match that. We have planned for that for a couple of weeks.”
MELBOURNE VS BRUMBIES, GIO STADIUM, FRIDAY NIGHT.
1. Matt Gibbon
2. Anaru Rangi
3. Ruan Smith
4. Ross Haylett-Petty
5. Matt Philip
6. Angus Cottrell
7. Michael Wells
8. Isi Naisarani
9. Frank Lomani
10. Matt Toomua
11. Andrew Kellaway
12. Billy Meakes
13. Reece Hodge
14. Marika Koroibete
15. Dane Haylett-Petty
Res:
16. Steve Misa
17. Cameron Orr
18. Jermaine Ainsley
19. Gideon Koelenberg
20. Rob Leota
21. Richard Hardwick
22. Ryan Louwrens
23. Campbell Magnay
