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Rebels win, Brumbies lose in rugby trials

The Australian Super Rugby captains gather on Sydney Harbour at the 2015 season launch.
Roar Pro
31st January, 2015
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Karmichael Hunt has made his debut for the Queensland Reds, but the former rugby league and AFL star couldn’t stop his side going down to the Melbourne Rebels 28-13 in their Super Rugby trial at Barlow Park in Cairns.

Hunt played just over 60 minutes at fullback on Saturday night in his first rugby game since his stint with Biarritz almost five years ago.

He was offered few opportunities in a forward dominated match, but looked comfortable in defence.

Rebels prop Cruz Ah-Nau scored a rare double, with both his tries coming off pick and drives, while Tom Sexton also powered over from close range.

Reds recruit Duncan Paui’aua struggled at times in his first match filling in for injured star Quade Cooper, throwing a poor pass to Hunt early and making a number of basic errors.

Beau Robinson scored a double for the Reds, with both tries coming off rolling mauls, as the Queenslanders struggled for continuity in their backline.

Meanwhile, star centre Tevita Kurindrani scored a double but it wasn’t enough as the ACT Brumbies surrendered a 19-0 lead against the Highlanders to fall 23-19 in Wagga Wagga.

Kurindrani scored one try by finishing off a 60 metre bust by blockbusting winger Henry Speight, before combining with Christian Leali’ifano to score under the posts.

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Speight grabbed a try of his own shortly before halftime after some clever lead up work by Robbie Coleman, but the sin-binning of halfback Nic White shortly after halftime proved to be the turning point, with the Highlanders scoring 23 straight points.

The night was soured somewhat by an injury to Highlanders centre Shaun Treeby, who was taken to hospital after suffering a bad concussion.

Former Wallaby skipper David Pocock continued his return from injury, playing the entire first half.

The Western Force won their trial against the Asia-Pacific Dragons 38-19, but skipper Matt Hodgson suffered a hamstring injury in the win.

Hodgson hobbled off after less than 10 minutes but the extent of the injury will not be known until Sunday.

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