Rebels stick with Lomani, Toomua combination
Melbourne: Rebels coach Dave Wessels has retained the halves combination of Frank Lomani and Matt Toomua in tonight’s
Super Rugby clash against the Brumbies in Canberra.
However, Wessels has replaced his props and openside flanker in a bid to atone an embarrassing season-opening loss to the Sunwolves. Rebels props Matt Gibbon and Ruan Smith come into the starting XV alongside No.7 Michael Wells who replaces young gun Robbie Leota.
Wessels wants his men to show more physicality after they were bullied in Tokyo by the Sunwolves, who exit the tournament at the end of the season.
“We were very unhappy with our performance. We’re a good team who played badly, I don’t think we’re a bad team,” Wessels said.
“We didn’t defend well. We weren’t happy with our level of physicality – we’ve looked at that pretty hard this week. There’s some frustration in the group at the moment. With ourselves more than anything else. We feel like we’ve let each other down.
“We’ve had a disappointing start but we’ve learnt in the past that Super Rugby is not won in round one, so hopefully this is a turning point for the rest of our season.”
The clash kicks-off t 8.15pm
Rebels: Dane Haylett-Petty (c), Marika Koroibete, Reece Hodge, Billy Meakes, Andrew Kellaway, Matt Toomua, Frank Lomani, Isi Naisarani, Michael Wells, Angus Cottrell, Matt Philip, Ross Haylett-Petty, Ruan Smith, Anaru Rangi, Matt Gibbon.
Reserves: Steven Misa, Cameron Orr, Jermaine Ainsley, Gideon Koegelenberg, Robbie Leota, Richard Hardwick, Ryan Louwrens, Campbell Magnay.