Tahs draw Rebels for Super opener
Tahs draw Rebels for Super opener
THE Waratahs will kick off the Super 15 season against newcomers the Melbourne Rebels at AAMI Park, according to the draft draw obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
The revelation came as the Bulls claimed the final Super 14 title with a 25-17 win over the Stormers in an all-South African final on Sunday morning.
South Africa president Jacob Zuma, who delayed an international trip to attend the game, told the 40,000 crowd at Orlando Stadium that they had witnessed a significant moment in the history of South Africa.
That said, all Australian eyes will be on the Waratahs and Rebels when they face off in round one of the Super 15 competition.
Australia's fifth Super side has already recruited former Wallabies skipper Stirling Mortlock, Dragons forward Jarrod Saffy, Knights winger Cooper Vuna, Julian Huxley and Mark Gerrard.
The Rebels, who will be coached by the Wallabies' 1999 World Cup-winning mentor Rod Macqueen, also have an international flavour through All Blacks forwards Greg Somerville and Kevin O'Neill and former English five-eighth Danny Cipriani.
It is expected to be confirmed shortly that the two teams will play for the Weary Dunlop Trophy.
The Rebels are then scheduled to play the Brumbies in Melbourne in round two, while the Waratahs will have another blockbuster match, this time against the electrifying Queensland Reds - which could well be one of two games played at Homebush.
In the revamped competition, the five Australian sides will play each other twice. However, they won't play some South African and New Zealand sides at all.
The Waratahs won't play the Stormers, who beat them in this year's Super 14 semi-final, or the Hurricanes.
The expanded draw means the regular season games are played over 18 weeks and each team has two byes.
It is much more supporter-friendly with the Waratahs to now have eight home matches.
The Waratahs are expected to lobby hard against playing home games on Friday nights because they struggle to attract big crowds.
It is believed they want to play a few games on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, as well as Saturday evenings. The Force look to have drawn the short straw.
They have a bye in round three and their only consecutive home games are in the final two rounds.
In the Super 14 final, the Bulls led from start to finish as five-eighth Morne Steyn booted 20 points.
Bulls captain Victor Matfield said the victory justified his side's contentious move to rest 14 players in the final round.
"The decision to have a break in the last week of the tournament also proved to be the right one," Matfield said. "Everything just worked out for us."
Matfield described the game in Soweto, South Africa's biggest black township of 1.7 million, as "an awesome day for our country".
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1225873199739
