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Rebels stick with Dane Haylett-Petty
By Online Editors
Wallabies outside back Dane Haylett-Petty will captain Melbourne Rebels again as the Victorian club strives for a first Super Rugby finals spot.
Entering their tenth season Melbourne have never logged more than seven wins, a tally they have achieved in four of their last five campaigns, some of which they started well only to fade in the closing stages.
Haylett-Petty, who plays winger or fullback, retains the role he held in 2019.
"Last year I took over just before round one, it felt like I was winging it a bit," Haylett-Petty said.
"I definitely learnt a whole lot of lessons as the whole team did.
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"But we've talked a lot about being a start up (franchise) and we're only ten years old and being innovative.
"I feel like the leaders have had a lot of say, taken a lot of control, a lot of responsibility, a lot of ownership, we've had a lot of fun with it.
"The big strength for us is the stability we've got. It's the first time we've had in our ten-year history the same chairman, CEO, head coach, captain, all the coaching staff are the same.
"We're just building from a strong foundation."
Haylett-Petty felt the Rebels' 2020 roster had a lot of depth.
"I think the Rebels have done a really good job in their off-season in terms of recruiting," the 30-year-old said.
"We've lost some young guys but we've replaced them with a lot of Super Rugby experience.
"Guys like Wellsy (backrower Michael Wells), (back Andrew) Kellaway, (halfback) Ryan Louwrens.
"They are going to add a lot to our season.
"We used the least number of players in Super Rugby last year and I really think we've got a lot of depth to get us through this season."
The Rebels play the Brumbies in a trial in Albury on Thursday before starting their Super campaign against Japan's Sunwolves in Fukuoka on Saturday week.
Melbourne's Super W side will have co-captains, with PNG international and new recruit Mel Kawa joining 2019 skipper Meretiana Robinson.
- AAP
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Latest Comments
I had a look at the wiki article again, it's all terribly old data (not that I'd see reason for much change in the case of SA).
Number Of Clubs:
1526
Registered+Unregistered Players:
651146
Number of Referees:
3460
Pre-teen Male Players:
320842
Pre-teen Female Player:
4522
Teen Male Player:
199213
Teen Female Player:
4906
Senior Male Player:
113174
Senior Female Player:
8489
Total Male Player:
633229
Total Female Player:
17917
So looking for something new as were more concerned with adults specifically, so I had a look at their EOY Financial Review.
So 80k+ adult males (down from 113k), but I'm not really sure when youth are involved with SAn clubs, or if that data is for some reason not being referenced/included. 300k male students however (200k in old wiki data).
https://resources.world.rugby/worldrugby/document/2020/07/28/212ed9cf-cd61-4fa3-b9d4-9f0d5fb61116/P56-57-Participation-Map_v3.pdf has France at 250k registered but https://presse-europe1-fr.translate.goog/exclu-europe-1-le-top-10-des-sports-les-plus-pratiques-en-france-en-2022/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp has them back up at 300k registered.
The French number likely Students + Club, but everyone collects data different I reckon. In that WR pdf for instance a lot of the major nations have a heavily registered setup, were as a nation like England can penetrate into a lot more schools to run camps and include them in the reach of rugby. For instance the SARU release says only 29% of schools are reached by proper rugby programs, where as the 2million English number would be through a much much higer penetration I'd imagine. Which is thanks to schools having the ability to involve themselves in programs more than anything.
In any case, I don't think you need to be concerned with the numbers, whether they are 300 or 88k, there is obviously a big enough following for their pro scenes already to have enough quality players for a 10/12 team competition. They appear ibgger than France but I don't really by the lower English numbers going around.
Go to commentsOk I understand. Give them my number please Nick.
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