Super 15: Waratahs - Rebels in Sydney (30-04-2011)

[TRF_Ezequiel]

The Waratahs have not taken the chance to get back to the top of the conference or even close to it. With the loss against the Reds last weekend, they are 11 points behind the Queensland rivals. The difference with the lowest wild card teams (Highlanders and Sharks) is 6 points. When they take on the Rebels on saturday, it will be their first match back in Sydney after travelling to Perth, Auckland and Brisbane these last 3 weeks. Only against the Western Force, they managed to win, but in the match against the color-teams (Blues and Reds) they fell short.

The match against the Rebels will be the first of 3 consecutive matches at the Sydney Football Stadium, with a bye in between before they travel to South Africa and take on the Sharks and the Bulls. In these matches it's unlikely they will snatch up 10 points so most will depend on the 3 matches back home. The Force and the Lions await them later, but now it's the Rebels in their way to the play off spots. Drew Mitchell, who got injured against the Reds, won't be playing for a while and despite his attempts, will likely miss the World Cup in september.

The Rebels are a team with ups and downs so far. Beating the Brumbies, falling short against the Reds, overcome this by beating the Hurricanes and scoring 4 tries earlier against the Sharks shows there is enough class in the team to score points. Cooper Vuna is the leading try scorer with 3, Hugh Pyle and Alistair Campbell have scored 2 so far. There are good hopes Stirling Mortlock and Mark Gerrard can form the center pair again and hopefully for the Melbourne side, they can shake off another opponent because a win is highly needed.

The Waratahs and Rebels have each other once. It was the first ever Super Rugby match, the Rebels played. At home, in Melbourne, the Waratahs didn't give them a chance and got away with a 0-43 win. Rebels O'Neill and Robinson got a yellow card and tries for the Tahs were scored by Kurtley Beale (twice), Drew Mitchell (twice), Rob Horne, Phil Waugh and Tatafu Polota-Nau.

 

[Ollie Holden]

As much as I wish the Rebels will win this game I can't see it happening. Yeah, they have pulled off a few victories and surprises and have done far better than anyone would have predicted (probably down to Danny , my main reason for supporting the rebels) the match against the Blues last weekend kind of summed it up, they were able to compete but over the 80 minutes were outclassed by a far superior side when they were lacking the fitness over 80 minutes.

The rebels struggle slightly with strength in depth which will be their main pitfall this season, next season should be good for them with the addition of a few new signings.

I'm sure the rebels will put up a fight as it is but can't see them winning.

 

[Darwin]

Waratahs: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Sosene Anesi, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Tom Carter, 11 Lachie Turner, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Ben Mowen, 7 Pat McCutcheon, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Sitaleki Timani, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Kane Douglas, 19 Chris Alcock, 20 Brendan McKibbin, 21 Daniel Halangahu, 20 Tom Kingston.

The loss of Mitchell is huge for the Tahs, though Berrick Barnes is back this week, which may somewhat offset this loss. This allows Beale to move back to his best position of fullback, and Lachie Turner to move onto the left wing. Unfortunately Phil Waugh and Wycliff Palu have been ruled out with hamstring injuries, meaning McCutcheon and Dennis come into the run on side (with Mowen switching from 6 to 8).

 

[TRF_RC]

Pretty much every time i come to comment on a game here, Darwin has pretty much summed up everything i wanted to/needed to say.
So, see above, and just so you know 100 on waratahs to win by more than 7.

 

[Darwin]

Rebels: 15 Julian Huxley, 14 Lachlan Mitchell, 13 Mark Gerrard, 12 Stirling Mortlock (c), 11 Peter Betham, 10 James Hilgendorf, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Gareth Delve, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Jarrod Saffy, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Rodney Blake.
Reserves: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Laurie Weeks, 18 Hoani Macdonald, 19 Tim Davidson, 20 Richard Kingi, 21 Cooper Vuna, 22 Danny Cipriani

Both Cipriani and Vuna have been dropped to the bench for this game. This was rumored earlier in the week, when the coach suggested that they wanted to sort out their defensive deficiencies, with Vuna and Cipriani the major culprits. This sees the backline rearranged: Hilgendorf comes in at 10, Betham goes onto the wing, and Gerrard comes into centre (after being passed fit), with Huxley moving from centre to fullback. It will be interesting to see who has the goal-kicking responsibilities this week, as I didn't think Hilgendorf was an established kicker, so either Mortlock or Gerrard may take the kicks at goal.

I think the Waratahs, with Barnes back, will be too strong in this game. Like RC above, I have the Waratahs to win by 7 or more...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Waratahs are going to walk this and get very few put on them - the Rebels might have slightly improved their defence through those changes, but they've crippled their attack.