Melbourne Rebels head coach Dave Wessels has made one change to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Super Rugby clash with the Blues in Auckland.
Tighthead prop Jermaine Ainsley returns after missing the Rebels’ win over the Sunwolves which means Sam Talakai shifts to the reserves.
Amongst the replacements, Ross Haylett-Petty returns for his first match at Super Rugby level since suffering concussion during the match against the Bulls in Pretoria and will start on the bench.
Winger Sefa Naivalu – who was included in the Wallabies squad for next month’s three-Test series against Ireland – and last week’s debutant, Pone Fa’amausili have both been omitted from this week’s team.
Wessels said: “We’ve worked hard over the last couple of weeks on our ability to finish games strongly – this is due in large part to the work our conditioning staff have put into the team as well as the impressive impact our bench has made in recent weeks. They’ve come on and really wanted to rattle the cage.
“Guys like LT (Lopeti Timani) and Syd (Geoff Parling) have been particularly impressive in this regard.
“It’s great to have Ross (Haylett-Petty) coming back in. He trained really well this week and effectively forced us to pick him. He gives us flexibility in the back five and is obviously fit and powerful. We look forward to seeing his impact.”
Melbourne Rebels: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Jack Maddocks, 13 Tom English, 12 Billy Meakes, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Reece Hodge, 9 Michael Ruru, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Colby Fainga’a, 6 Angus Cottrell, 5 Adam Coleman (c), 4 Matt Philip, 3 Jermaine Ainsley, 2 Anaru Rangi, 1 Fereti Sa’aga
Replacements: 16 Jordan Uelese, 17 Ben Daley, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Ross Haylett-Petty, 21 Harrison Goddard, 22 Tayler Adams, 23 Lopeti Timani
Date: Saturday, June 2
Kick-off: 17:15 local (05:15 GMT)
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Referee: Nick Briant (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand), Angus Mabey (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
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