Brumbies to face Rebels and Reds to host Waratahs to open Super Rugby AU

The draft Super Rugby AU draw pits the Brumbies against the Rebels on the opening weekend, while the Reds will host the Waratahs.

Melbourne Rebels players run though lineout practice during a training session at Gosch’s Paddock on Thursday. Picture: AAP

Barring a late reprieve for the Japanese Sunwolves, the Brumbies will be at home in Canberra to the Melbourne Rebels, and Queensland will host the Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium in the opening round of the Super Rugby AU competition on July 3-4.

There is still hope, though it is fading fast, that the Sunwolves will be allowed to compete in the otherwise all-Australian competition, but Rugby Australia has decided it can sit on the details of the series no longer and has released a draft draw to the five confirmed starters — the four Super Rugby franchises plus the Western Force.

All teams will start from zero points in the rebooted competition, but the Brumbies look to have been rewarded for their second place on the table and 23 points in the pre-COVID-19 series by being given a home match in Canberra first up against the Rebels, who were the second-placed Australian side.

That match presumably will open the series, although it is impossible to be definitive given that the draft draw — a copy of which was leaked to The Weekend Australian — lists only the matches for each weekend. But the honour could be given to traditional rivals Queensland and NSW.

There will be extra significance to the Canberra occasion with Rebels playmaker Matt Toomua set to make his 100th Super Rugby appearance on the night against a Brumbies side he once represented in 88 games.

Rugby Australia CEO Rob Clarke confirmed that even though these matches were not official Super Rugby fixtures, they should still count towards cap tallies and for marking milestones.

Melbourne Rebels CEO Baden Stephenson said: “There were a lot of reasons why we felt they should be given that status, given the COVID pandemic is unprecedented. And we are playing in the only competition that we can against a side we would normally meet in Super Rugby.”

The Western Force, who were confirmed as a starter only on Wednesday, will have the bye in the opening round but will play their opening match in Sydney, against the Waratahs, the last side they met — and beat — in Super Rugby before they were culled in 2017. The match will take place less than a week short of the third anniversary of that famous 40-11 victory.

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According to the draft draw, the Force will play their first home match in Perth on July 24-25, though presumably that is conditional on the Western Australia government having lifted border restrictions by that stage.

The Super Rugby AU competition is still conditional on Fox Sports making a suitable offer for the RA package this year, including no fewer than four Bledisloe Cup Tests against the All Blacks.

Meanwhile, prize Rebels recruit Jeral Skelton, cousin of Wallabies Will Skelton and Peter Betham, has begun training with the club. Given that he was also pursued by NRL side Melbourne Storm, there was mild concern he might take the wrong entrance at AAMI Park, but fortunately he turned left into the Rebels’ HQ and soon after was making an instant impact at training.

The former Australia sevens star, who made his national debut under former coach Andy Friend in Cape Town three years ago, looked like setting the sevens circuit alight but he caught the eye of Rebels coach Dave Wessels and is now shaping as a dynamic Super Rugby-standard backrower.