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Rays v Rams, preview
August 16, 2007 - 11:24am
Story by: Sportal
Venue & time
Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium, Saturday Aug 18, 3pm (AEST)
Head to head
Debut clash
Walking wounded & team changes
Australia A fullback Peter Hewat and Wallabies prop Al Baxter make their first appearance for the Rays this season. Test number eight Wycliff Palu has overcome his minor hamstring complaint from last weekend and will start the match.
The Rams have lost Test prop Benn Robinson for the season with a broken foot. He joins scrumhalf Josh Valentine (wrist) and Tom Carter (ankle) on the long-term injury list. Former Australia under 21 prop Ben Alexander takes over for Robinson, Wil Brame is at openside flanker and Lachlan Mitchell plays his first game in the Mazda ARC at outside centre. After last week's last-minute switch, Kurtley Beale has been named at flyhalf with Lachie Turner at fullback.
Form
Both sides lost their opening matches in the Mazda ARC but it has to be said the Rays showed more form to start the season.
The Rays dominated the opening half of last week's match against the Fleet to lead 16-3 early in the second half. But they fatigued noticeably, lost concentration and ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
The Rams looked below-par in their opening match of the Mazda ARC against the Spirit last week. They were beaten at the breakdown and were starved of possession then exposed on the wings by Perth when their dogged defence eventually thinned.
Who's hot
Palu impressed in his 40-minute stint last start, while Rays skipper Cameron Treloar was everywhere in both attack and defence and seemed to take well the experimental rules. Brett Sheehan was busy in attack while prop Ofa Fainga'anuku was one of the Rays standouts.
Rams centre Chris Siale was tough in defence and his persistence paid off in attack with the Rams sole try against the Spirit. Ben Hand was strong up front, winger Ben Martin showed he is dangerous with the boot, while Kurtley Beale did well when thrown into the flyhalf role at the last minute last week.
This Saturday's match-up between fullbacks Hewat and Turner and flyhalves Sam Norton-Knight and Beale will be a highlight.
Teams
Central Coast Rays
1. Ofa Fainga'anuku
2. Al Manning
3. Aaron Tawera
4. Cameron Treloar [c]
5. Chris Thomson
6. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
7. Beau Robinson
8. Jason Peseta
9. Brett Sheehan
10. Sam Norton-Knight
11. Jordan Macey
12. Sam Harris
13. Ben Jacobs
14. Andrew Smith
15. Peter Hewat
16. Alex Gluth
17. John Adams
18. Nifo Nifo
19. Viliame Ratu
20. David Harvey
21. Ross Duncan
22. Jye Mullane
Western Sydney Rams
1. Ben Alexander
2. Tatafu Polota-Nau [vc]
3. James Lakepa
4. Ben Hand [c]
5. Van Humphries
6. Gareth Palamo
7. Wil Brame
8. Tom Egan
9. Josh Holmes
10. Kurtley Beale
11. Fa'atonu Fili
12. Chris Siale
13. Lachlan Mitchell
14. Ben Martin
15. Lachie Turner [vc]
16. Ben Roberts
17. Aaron Broughton-Rouse
18. Mark Howell
19. Ben Coridas
20. Dave Rimmer
21. Rory Sidey
22. Filipo Toala
TEAMS UPDATED TO MATCH DAY LINE UPS