Match Date: Friday 8th March

Melbourne welcomes back the Rebels who after the usual pre season hype, look to have returned to type.  Patches of excellence marred by spells of indifference ending ultimately in defeat is what they will be hoping to avoid against the visitors.  The men from out of town are the Reds who will be looking to rack up the first hat-trick of Super Rugby 2013.

 

Rugby fans donated money to the James O’Corn-row Foundation which aims to remove bad hair-styles from Aussie rugby players. A similar fund has been started in South Africa for Elton Jantjies

 

Melbourne Rebels

 

Both teams have lost pivotal playmakers in Kurtley Beale and Will Genia but the Reds have already started to adjust to life without Will.   It remains to be seen whether the Rebels will be able to do the same as James NO’Corn-row steps into Beale’s dancing shoes.

From a fantasy perspective the Rebels are scoring points and most of them are coming off James NO’Corn-row’s boot.  The Wallaby back is the 3rd top points scorer in fantasy rugby although he’s yet to score a try.  The rest of the backs aren’t worth the paper their million dollar contracts were printed on.  Richard Kingi has started well and is playing on the wing so he might score more tries but good halfbacks get more assists.  Don’t settle on Kingi before checking our the likes of TJ Perenara, Nic White, Sarel Pretorius and Cobus Reinach first.

In the forwards Ged Robinson is proving to be fantasy gold scoring his 2nd try of the season, his price has gone up to 5 million (from 4.5) but he’s still cheap as chips.  The other fantasy favourite is Scott  Higginbotham (known to Aussie commentators as Scoddeeee) who comes up against his old team.  The big number 8 already has a try this season and will want to add to that on Friday night.

 

Queensland Reds

 

Credit must go to the Reds last weekend, they really did try to play rugby.  Even though it wasn’t a completely successful attempt they were rewarded with a hard-fought victory over the Canes.  It was their second successive win and they did it without Will Genia proving that they aren’t a 2-man team.  We’re not going to mention the Reds flyhalf because he’s had enough attention from us (and his tweeps) and isn’t playing well enough to warrant more.

The hard-running Digby Ioane finally scored after his dry spell and deservedly so.  The winger is an honest hard-working player that doesn’t always get the try-scoring rewards.  A final point on the a backline is that the man linking them to the forwards, Ben Lucas is in doubt for the weekend.  Ewen Mackenzie has spoke about possibly bringing in Genia for the game.  Yes, Genia; No, not Will Genia but his brother Nigel (must have had it tough growing up).  The 21-year old could make is Super Rugby debut this Friday and we wait with eager anticipation.

The forwards brought the muscle with Liam Gill standing out although the 3 loosies were all good.  Jake Schatz will have his hands full this Friday night trying to mark his old teammate Higginbotham who shows up everywhere from the ruck to the wing.  Rob Simmons had a terrific game and was rewarded with his first try in over 50 Super Rugby games, well done to whomever saw that one coming.  It will be another game hinging on the forwards and the Reds will need to show the same dogged determination that’s been the hallmark of their success.

If you missed it, here are the highlights of the Reds vs Hurricanes match.

 

 

The History

 

The teams have collided 4 times and it’s been one-way traffic.  The Reds have won all four outscoring the Rebels 4 tries to 1.  It’s a short history but a telling one.

 
Prediction

 

The Rebels are horribly unpredictable.  If they put together 2 halves of decent rugby in a row they could cause an upset against an under-strength Reds.  Hopes and dreams aside, we still have to go with common sense on this one, the Reds have too much going on up front where it counts.  REDS to pile on some more pain for the Melbourne faithful!

Margin

Closer than the usual hidings they’ve been getting from the Reds. 8 points

 

Betting

Handicap

The match odds aren’t out but the Reds tournament odds have narrowed to 11:1 after their victory over the Hurricanes.  The Rebels are back to where they should be at 101:1 after their 2nd consecutive loss.  We expect the Rebels to be given at least a 7-point start.

Result

The Reds will be firm favourites despite the Rebel’s home ground advantage.

 

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Tags: Fantasy Rugby, fantasy rugby tips, Preview, rebels, Reds, super 15, Super 15 rugby, Super Rugby, Super Rugby Preview, Super XV

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 5th, 2013 at 7:41 am and is filed under Match Previews, Super Rugby. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.