Bulls vs Rebels: Bulls the better team on home turf

Roar Guru

5th March, 2016

2524 Reads

Kickoff: 12 midnight (AEDT)
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe
Betting: Bulls $1.40, Rebels $2.86

Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nic de Jager, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss. 1 Trevor Nyakane
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Roelof Smit, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Dries Swanepoel

Rebels
15 Reece Hodge, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Mitch Inman, 11 Tom English, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Lopeti Timani, 7 Sean McMahon (c), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Steve Cummins, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 James Hanson, 1 Toby Smith
Replacements: 16 Pat Leafa, 17 Cruze Ah Nau, 18 Jamie Hagan, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Jordy Reid, 21 Mick Snowden, 22 Jonah Placid, 23 Dan Hawkins

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Lopeti Timani can break his way through plenty of tackles, but can he force his way into the Wallabies side? (AAP Image/Tony McDonough)

Will Sinclair

Roar Guru

5th March, 2016

171

2524 Reads

Match result:

The Melbourne Rebels succumbed to a 20-point loss against the Bulls, in a high-scoring fixture that saw the Rebels lose their 11th straight match in South Africa.

REPORT: REBELS SLUMP TO HEAVY LOSS

A hat-trick of tries from Bjorn Basson saw the Bulls take a comfortable lead early and they were 45-3 at one point before four unanswered tries from the Rebels made the scoreline a little more respectable.

Final score
Bulls 45
Rebels 25

Match preview:

The Melbourne Rebels travel to Pretoria to take on the Bulls in this Round 2 Super Rugby clash. Join The Roar for live coverage from 12 midnight (AEDT).

For the first time in 2016, we see an Australian team take on a side from one the African conferences, in a match that will tell us a lot about the strength of the respective groups.

The Bulls return to their Loftus Versfeld home after a comprehensive loss to the Stormers in Round 1. They strayed from their traditional strengths of a good kicking game and a rugged pack, so it will be interesting to see whether they stick with those tactics back at home.

They are also without injured Springbok centre Jesse Kriel.

Meanwhile, the Rebels are looking to open their season with back-to-back victories for the first time in their history. They were very good last week, overcoming the loss of key players (including both young halves) to beat the Force in Perth, recording 15 turnovers in the process, the most of any side. It was a scrappy game though, with plenty of errors.

From that game, the Rebels lost Mike Harris and Colby Fainga’a, who join Nic Stirzaker, Cam Crawford and Scott Fuglistaller in the sick bay, although they welcome back fly-half Jack Debreczeni, who has been named to start.

Prediction
The Rebels are going really well and, at full strength, would be every chance of causing an upset. But with so many players lost to injury, it is hard to see them winning.

Bulls by 1-12

171

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