Super 15: Rebels - Force @ AAMI Park, Melbourne (17-06-2011, 10:35 GMT)

[TRF_Ezequiel]

AAMI Park, Melbourne (17-06-2011, 10:35 GMT)

The last and only time that the Rebels and the Force played each other the Rebels pulled off a surprising 25-26 Super Rugby victory in Perth.

Using that victory as a guide one would expect that the Rebels would be in for another victory as they have home advantage this weekend in Melbourne.

However since that match the Force have dramatically improved and the Rebels have slowly lost their form as they struggle from week to week with a leaky defence.

In their first season the Rebels have conceded 72 tries and scored 27. Suprisingly the Force have only scored 23 tries all season but the difference is that they have only conceded 40 tries.

If the Rebels do win they will overtake the Lions and avoid finishing in last place which would be very impressive for a first season performance. Or does that say more about the Lions ?

The Force are enjoying their best ever Super Rugby season and are hoping to beat the Brumbies in the final Super Rugby standings by finishing in third place in the Australian Conference. The Force currently lead the Brumbies as they have conceded 3 points less.

The Force's leading point scorer James O'Connor looks to have played his last game for the Force as negotiations have broken down and he is suspended for this week. He is however replaced at full back by Pat Dellit and Cameron Shepherd is on the bench.

Over the last three weeks Julian Huxley has gone from fly half to centre to the bench for this week's match.

source: superxv.com

Last result:
02 Apr 2011 7 Rebels v Force 26-25 Perth

Rebels overall record against the Force
Played 1 , Wins 1, Losses 0, Draws 0

Match Officials:
Referee: Garratt Williamson
Assistant referees: Nathan Pearce, Simon Moore
Television match official: Steve Lesczcynski

Teams

Rebels: 1. Nic Henderson, 2. Ged Robinson, 3. Greg Somerville, 4. Alister Campbell, 5. Adam Byrnes, 6. Jarrod Saffy, 7. Michael Lipman, 8. Gareth Delve (vc), 9. Nick Phipps, 10. Danny Cipriani, 11. Cooper Vuna, 12. Stirling Mortlock (c), 13. Afusipa Taumoepeau, 14. Richard Kingi, 15. Mark Gerrard

Replacements : 16. Adam Freier, 17. Laurie Weeks, 18. Kevin O'Neill, 19. Tim Davidson, 20. Lachlan Mitchell, 21. Peter Betham, 22. Julian Huxley


Western Force: 1. Kieran Longbottom, 2. Nathan Charles, 3. Matt Dunning, 4. Ben McCalman, 5. Sam Wykes, 6. Matt Hodgson, 7. David Pocock (Captain), 8. Richard Brown, 9. Brett Sheehan, 10. James Stannard, 11. David Smith, 12. Rory Sidey, 13. Mitch Inman, 14. Alfie Mafi, 15. Patrick Dellit

Reserves:16. Ben Whittaker, 17. Tetera Faulkner, 18. Tom Hockings, 19. Jono Jenkins, 20. Mark Swanepoel, 21. Willie Ripia, 22. Cameron Shepherd



<a href="http://winbetting.at/therugbyforum?CTY=1&amp;CID=15908"><img src="http://b1.perfb.com/b1.php?ID=15908&amp;PURL=winbetting.at/therugbyforum" border="0" /></a>

*Vbookie odds supplied by BWIN*

 

[Amobokoboko]

Force defo for the win. Pity I ran out of Vmoney otherwise I could have some last round wins

Edit, didn't say a word.

 

[Darwin]

I think the Force should be too good, despite missing O'Connor and Sharpe. Both backlines have a number of players who treat tackling as optional, so we may see quite a few tries scored!

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Can see Rebels winning this, something I haven't been able to say much this season. They're so much better with Cipriani and I really like their backline this week.

 

[TNT88]

Sheehan is so much slower than Swanepoel, hope we get him on soon in the 2nd half. The backline will be so much more threatening.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Jesus if the rebels didn't have such awful ball control they might actually score some points from time to time

 

[ZeFrenchy]

They're so much better with Cipriani and I really like their backline this week.

Yeah, despite some unnecessary kicks, they're way better with him.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Good game this, Dunning off

Cracking end coming to this.

 

[Gavin]

Turned off after the Force scored their second try, currently annoyed as I missed a good comeback by the Rebels. It was a good battle between David Smith and Kingi with Smith coming out on top; he is definitely a quality player and will hopefully do well in Toulon.