Our Super Saturday gets underway, with the first of six matches, two in each country, as the Hurricanes host the Rebels in what should be an interesting match to get us going.
The Hurricanes come off a somewhat surprising loss to the Brumbies last weekend, and will hope the same fate does not hit them as they face another Australian team, this time the Crusader-beating Rebels. The Hurricanes have made numerous changes to their side, bringing back Beauden Barrett after starting with Tusi Pisi last weekend.
The Rebels come off successive wins, beating the Crusaders two weekends ago and narrowly beating the Force last weekend. One feels that the Hurricanes will stop their winning ‘streak’ before it even gets going, as the Canes vie for that all important play-off spot.
Hurricanes: 1. Ben May ,2. Dane Coles ,3. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen ,4. Jeremy Thrush ,5. Jason Eaton ,6. Faifili Levave ,7. Jack Lam ,8. Victor Vito ,9. TJ Perenara ,10. Beauden Barrett ,11. Julian Savea ,12. Tim Bateman ,13. Conrad Smith (c),14. Alapati Leiua ,15. Andre Taylor
Reserves:16. Motu Matu’u ,17. Reg Goodes ,18. James Broadhurst ,19. Brad Shields ,20. Chris Eaton ,21. Tusi Pisi ,22. Jayden Hayward
Rebels: 15. Julian Huxley, 14. Mark Gerrard, 13. Mitch Inman, 12. Lachlan Mitchell, 11. Cooper Vuna, 10. Kurtley Beale, 9. Nick Phipps, 8.Gareth Delve (c), 7. Tim Davidson, 6. Luke Jones, 5. Hugh Pyle, 4.Cadeyrn Neville, 3. Jono Owen, 2. Ged Robinson, 1. Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16. Adam Freier, 17. Rodney Blake, 18. Al Campbell, 19. Tom Chamberlain, 20. Richard Kingi, 21. James Hilgendorf, 22. Stirling Mortlock.
Referee: Jonathon White
Assistant Ref 1:Mike Fraser
Assistant Ref 2:Richard Kelly
TMO : Vinny Munro
37 min
Hurricanes 38
Rebels 17
HURRICANES 66 vs REBELS 24 Full-time
And my LMS pick is save
Fulltime
Hurricanes 66
Rebels 24
That’s one safe bet in the bag, if only just!
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 4) :
@Franshark (Comment 2) : Were you ever worried??