Halfback Luke Burgess back in Melbourne Rebels starting side to face Sharks

LUKE Burgess has returned to Melbourne’s starting line-up to face the Sharks, but prop Toby Smith has been ruled out with injury.

Luke Burgess will start for the Rebels against the Sharks, Picture: Mark Stewart

WALLABY Luke Burgess has returned to Melbourne’s starting line-up for Friday night’s clash with the Sharks, but leading forward Toby Smith has been ruled out with injury.

The Rebels made two changes to the 23 who toppled the Western Force two weeks ago, losing prop Smith and promoting Max Lahiff to the bench.

Burgess has been given the starting role at scrumhalf over Nic Stirzaker, while Cruze Ah-Nau earns his first Super Rugby start in place of Smith.

Coach Tony McGahan believes Burgess’ experience and physicality from kick-off will be an asset against the competition leaders in the first game of their four-match Australasian tour.

“We’re looking for a change in dynamics this weekend as we play the Sharks who have such a big physical pack,” McGahan said.

“Luke has a strong kicking game from nine, and we’ll need the physicality around the ruck and in attack and defence that Luke can certainly bring.

“Nic Stirzaker has done a fantastic job for us, starting the last five games, and there is a big difference between starting games and finishing games.

“There’s a different skillset required. Nic has given us a great platform, and Luke has been terrific adding enthusiasm, speed and consistency when he has come on in the latter stages.

“Nic gets the opportunity to do that this week.”

News_Image_File: Luke Burgess returns to the starting line-up for the Rebels.

The Sharks head to Melbourne coming off just their second loss of the season last week, against the Highlanders in Durban, however McGahan is focused more on his squad and how they approach this match having had a bye over the Anzac Day weekend.

“We are ready for the challenges posed by the Sharks,” he said.

“It’s great to be through the first half of the season; the guys have been really keen and enthusiastic at training over the last few days to start the second half of the season, and most importantly this block now of five games which kicks off with playing the number one side in Super Rugby at this point in time.

“The guys are really looking forward to the challenge, and being back at home.”

Cadeyrn Neville and Shota Horie played arguably their best games of the season against the Western Force, and their strong performances keep Hugh Pyle and Pat Leafa respectively on the substitutes bench this week.

“Cadeyrn had a lot of work to get through, and a lot to work on after his first start of the season in round two against the Western Force before he returned to the starting line-up in round 10,” McGahan said.

“He did that well, worked hard on his game and the evidence was there last time around where he did a really good job for us, particularly in the contact areas.

“Cadeyrn knows as well as everybody else that he needs to string back to back performances together, and he will get no better test than coming up against basically a Springbok forward pack.

“Shota Horie had his best game for the club last time out.

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“I thought he was terrific, and he won one of our internal awards for his performance.

“What he brought to the group in terms of his enthusiasm, his carries and his footwork were great, and he was a big part of our scrum doing well.

“The pleasing thing for him is that the more time he has been able to gather in Super Rugby, the better he has been able to become. It takes time to adapt to the environment, and he is certainly a great example of somebody benefiting from time and patience.”

The Sharks have moved Frans Steyn to flyhalf from centre as coach Jake White looks to kick start the competition leader's’s four-match tour with victory in Melbourne.

Steyn’s switch to flyhalf opens the way for a new centre pairing of Heimar Williams and Paul Jordaan.

Odwa Ndungane returns to the side on the wing while Jean Deysel and Bismarck du Plessis are both back after being pulled out of the team last weekend through injury.

White has urged his players to bounce back from their loss at home to the Highlanders in a big way.

“This Rebels game becomes the most important game for us,” White said.

News_Image_File: Cruze Ah-Nau will make his first start for the Rebels. Picture: Colleen Petch.

“We want to bounce back. It doesn’t matter who it is, it’s not the Rebels we’re targeting. When we lost to the Bulls, we won the next game against the Waratahs.

“This week we need to make sure that regardless of who we’re playing, we need to be better than we were last week to get a result.

“We must remember that although we beat them comfortably (64-7) last year in Durban, we’re playing them in Melbourne, they are a good team playing at home

“They’ve picked up some good wins this year, they beat the Brumbies in Melbourne.

“We want to get our tour off to a good start and take momentum through the tour and in order to do that we need to get a win in the first game.”

Rebels: Jason Woodward, Male Sau, Tamati Ellison, Mitch Inman, Tom English, Bryce Hegarty, Luke Burgess, Scott Higginbotham, Scott Fuglistaller, Colby Fainga’a, Luke Jones, Cadeyrn Neville, Laurie Weeks, Shota Horie, Cruze Ah-Nau.

Reserves: Pat Leafa, Max Lahiff, Paul Alo-Emilie, Hugh Pyle, Sean McMahon,

Nic Stirzaker, Tom Kingston, Angus Roberts.

Sharks: Lwazi Mvovo, Odwa Ndungane, Paul Jordaan, Heimar Williams, JP Pietersen, Francois Steyn, Charl McLeod, Ryan Kankowski, Jean Deysel, Marcell Coetzee, Stephan Lewies, Willem Alberts, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira.

Reserves: Kyle Cooper, Dale Chadwick, Lourens Adriaanse, Etienne Oosthuizen, Keegan Daniel, Cobus Reinach, Fred Zeilinga, SP Marais.