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Matt To'omua eager to impress Dave Rennie following Wallabies exclusion
By AAP
Western Force are expecting a "different beast" than the Melbourne side they trounced by 25 points in their Super Rugby Pacific round two clash.
The Force are hosting a Rebels outfit on Friday night buoyant from a breakthrough win in their last outing, beating Fijian Drua.
The Perth-based team are coming off a heart-breaking one-point loss to the Brumbies while the players have been rocked by news their coach Tim Sampson will finish up at season's end.
Force skipper Feleti Kaitu'u said the Rebels had found their groove since that first meeting.
"They are a quality outfit and that's shown in the way they've evolved as the season has gone on," said the hooker, who spent the early part of the week in the Wallabies camp on the Gold Coast.
"They will be a different beast and we will be prepared for that."
Kaitu'u and lock Izack Rodda will start on the bench after their Wallabies experience.
Melbourne coach Kevin Foote was delighted to bank their first win, and also in the manner that they did it.
"It was more the way we played, it was such a mature effort from the guys and staying to the game plan," Foote said.
"And with the energy around the group, I'm just really pumped."
Foote has made just one change, with Victorian lock Josh Canham returning to the starting XV after recovering from a head knock.
He has given the halves partnership of Matt To'omua and James Tuttle another outing after proving fruitful against the Drua.
To'omua said he and Tuttle, in his second game starting, were a work in progress.
"It's not something that's the finished product but we're building," Toomua said.
"It's just something that comes with time and experience with each other and I think you've seen a little bit piece by piece."
To'omua, 32, has been a guiding hand to the likes of young outside backs Glen Vaihu and Ray Nu'u.
The veteran is looking to remind Wallabies selectors of his credentials after being overlooked for the test camp.
He didn't want to elaborate on the reasons coach Dave Rennie left him out but hadn't given up hope of fronting against England in the three-test series in July.
"There's plenty of time there to make a little play for it - lots of games in between now and first test so that'll be my focus and in order to do that, playing well for the Rebels is very important.
"The situation doesn't change."
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Latest Comments
Steve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
Go to commentsBut still Australians. Only Australia can help itself seems to be the key message.
Blaming Kiwis is deflecting from the actual problem.
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