Rebels at a crucial stage of the season, says Dane Haylett-Petty
Melbourne Rebels feel it’s make or break time for their Super Rugby finals ambition.
Melbourne Rebels feel it’s make or break time for their Super Rugby finals ambitions, starting with today’s clash against the Jaguares.
Fullback Dane Haylett-Petty will line up against the Argentine side at AAMI Park after missing the past two games suffering from the lingering affects of concussion.
“I’m really excited to be back; it’s always tough watching from the sidelines,” the Wallabies utility back said.
“We took the cautious route because you don’t want to mess around with your head and having the bye gave me an extra week to get right.”
The 28-year-old said his team realised they needed this home win, plus results from looming away matches against the Bulls and Stormers, to play in their first finals series.
The Rebels have never won a match in South Africa.
“This is a crucial period; the game this weekend and then the trip to Africa. If you want to play finals you’ve got to win in Africa,” Haylett-Petty said.
He felt the Rebels took lessons about how to manage pressure situations from their second-half capitulations against the Hurricanes in their last start and earlier against the Waratahs.
Haylett-Petty put that down to being a new-look team with a new leadership group.
“Even though we lost those games, they weren’t bad games and we had two very good halves, but we need to work on putting together an 80-minute performance,” he said.
“We are learning some lessons so next time in a situation like that we can wrestle back momentum.”
While much has been made of the Jaguares’ strength in the forwards, Haylett-Petty rated their backs, led by Test halves Martin Landajo and Nicolas Sanchez.
“They are one of the best attacking teams in the competition, so that’s a huge threat for us,” he said. “We will try to put them under pressure as much as possible when they have the ball.”
AAP
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