Holland wary of Rebels after their first-round fail
Jason Holland is expecting a starchy response from the Melbourne Rebels and his old Munster coaching colleague Tony McGahan after their opening-round shellacking at the hands of the Blues.
The Hurricanes assistant coach knows the Rebels are better than they showed in the 56-18 defeat so he expects a rugged contest in the capital on Saturday as the defending Super Rugby champs front their home crowd for the first time since Dane Coles lifted the silverware last August.
“I know they are better than that. One thing they won’t be lacking is effort and physicality this week,” Holland said.
Funnily enough, the Hurricanes gave just 60 minutes of quality in their 83-17 shutout of the Sunwolves, looking odds-on to pass the century until they loosened up, got sloppy, copped a yellow card and the home side discovered that shoring up the defence was a good way of mitigating the points-fest.
“Obviously the Japanese boys were a bit under-prepared in their D, which made things easier for us, but we executed our skills well for 60 minutes,” Holland said. “It was a little bit disappointing we didn’t kick on, but there were a few things going on.”
One of the most pleasing aspects of the Hurricanes’ victory was the sight of Julian Savea running freely and looking as fit as he has ever done in February. That will not worry All Blacks’ fans, accustomed to seeing the big wing come right in the latter half of the season, but it must be some relief to the Hurricanes’ coaching staff, who were thoroughly sick of answering questions about his fitness from May to July last year.
“I’m delighted at what Jules did. His work-rate was outstanding. We have a stat at how quickly guys get off the deck and back into the game and he was nailing those. Long may that continue,” Holland said.
Savea made 12 carries and four breaks for 127 metres, plus scored a try in Tokyo.
He scored a hat-trick in the 2012 corresponding fixture with the Rebels in Wellington, won 66-24.
What odds a repeat on Saturday?