Rebels captain Dane Haylett-Petty says Melbourne are keen for some vengeance after naming an unchanged side to face the Lions on Saturday night.
Melbourne took on the Lions in Johannesburg and led for much of the game before a lopsided penalty count and some critical errors unravelled their hopes of a win.
Haylett-Petty said that defeat was still one of the moments that hurt from their 2019 season.
"I think the Lions have had a lot of success over the last couple of years. They're always a challenge," he said.
"That was probably one of the regrets from last season, letting that one slip so we're looking forward to this weekend and hopefully getting a bit of revenge back."
The Rebels have named an unchanged 23 for the clash, the first time they have had the luxury of doing so this year.
A drought-breaking win over the Highlanders has injected a timely amount of confidence
"The most satisfying bit was, it was the most complete performance in terms of those periods where our attack fired, there's periods where our defence was really good, we kicked well and then our set piece was strong.
"While it wasn't an 80-minute performance, there were really good signs in each department."
While in recent seasons the Rebels' attack has been their strength and defence something to work on, this week Haylett-Petty said it was their scoring side that needed to fire.
"I think probably our defence has definitely been heading in the right direction, probably our attack is the focus," he said.
"We felt like in parts of the game it started to click on the weekend and if we can put teams under that sort of pressure and come away with the points then we'll be pretty successful."
The Rebels face the Lions at AAMI Park on Saturday March 7, kicking off at 7:15pm AEDT, LIVE on Foxtel, Kayo Sports and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO.
TEAM
Rebels to take on the Lions
1. Matt Gibbon
2. Anaru Rangi
3. Jermaine Ainsley
4. Gideon Koegelenberg
5. Matt Philip
6. Angus Cottrell (VC)
7. Richard Hardwick
8. Isi Naisarani
9. Ryan Louwrens
10. Matt Toomua (VC)
11. Marika Koroibete
12. Billy Meakes
13. Tom English
14. Andrew Kellaway
15. Dane Haylett-Petty ©
Reserves
16. Jordan Uelese
17. Cameron Orr
18. Cabous Eloff
19. Ross Haylett-Petty
20. Rob Leota
21. Frank Lomani
22. Michael Wells
23. Andrew Deegan
