Melbourne Rebels’ coach Tony McGahan issues call for unrelenting physicality against Brumbies

PHYSICALITY, as much as tactics and technique, will ­decide Saturday night’s Super Rugby clash between Melbourne and ACT Brumbies, according to Rebels coach Tony McGahan.

Rebels v Waratahs

PHYSICALITY, as much as tactics and technique, will ­decide Saturday night’s Super Rugby clash between Melbourne and ACT Brumbies, according to Rebels coach Tony McGahan.

McGahan was delighted with his side’s unrelenting physical presence in a 10-point loss to NSW Waratahs last week and is demanding more of the same.

McGahan’s call to arms sets the scene for what both teams expect to be a brutal AAMI Park encounter.

“You really need to make sure you’re standing strong in the carry, you’re standing strong in the defence line,” he said yesterday.

“Those key moments continue to build up as the game goes on, so you might just win by a little bit — whether it’s centimetres or inches or ­metres — early on (but) they accumulate, you get those little wins.

Scott Higginbotham scores against the Waratahs.

“At the back end of the game, hopefully you put in enough good work to continue to win them and they get a bit easier to win.

“Against a side like the Waratahs, it’s a really big part of how they play and a really big part of what you need to do to match them before you bring in anything technical or tactical.

“For us, it’s going to be ­exactly the same this week against the Brumbies.

“They’ve got nearly an international forward pack.

“They’re a side we’ve got great respect for, the way they’ve been put together, the way the senior players act and play.”

The Brumbies line-up is dotted with stars, including Stephen Moore, Matt Toomua, Scott Fardy, Christian Lealiifano, Tevita Kuridrani, Henry Speight, Scott Sio and Ben Alexander.

Melbourne is desperate to avoid slipping to 1-2 before ­facing Western Force in Perth.

Scott Higginbotham barges through the Waratahs defence.

Co-captain Scott Higginbotham said possession was vital after the Rebels were starved of the ball against the Waratahs.

“We can’t just defend for 80 per cent of the game and then expect not to be tired and not to let tries in,” Higginbotham said.

“If we can retain possession, we can get a lot out of it. We can take a lot of confidence out of last week — scoring four tries, we defended well.”

Injured while captaining the Wallabies against France last year, Moore will make his first start this season when he leads out the Brumbies.

ACT coach Stephen Larkham expects a torrid test.

“The Rebels present us with a significant challenge, but one we have worked hard on and have the ability to overcome,” Larkham said.

“We’ve seen the Rebels shake up both of last year’s ­finalists in the first two weeks and there’s no doubt we’ll need to be at our best to get the job done on Saturday.”