No panic from Rebels despite nightmare Kiwi pre-season

The Melbourne Rebels will look to quickly consign their 36-0 result against the Chiefs behind them, as they face the top-two New Zealand Conference teams from 2011 before kicking off their regular season.

The fifteenth team to be added to Super Rugby was all but completely outplayed by an aggressive, well drilled and fit Chiefs team last weekend – in contrast to a Rebels side that looked bereft of combinations at times.

This final point was something that head coach Damien Hill and other senior players pointed out post match.

The alarm bells however are being rung as Hill said there was no way to “sugar coat” such a heavy loss, and the fact that the Chiefs took the New Zealand Conference ‘wooden spoon’ last year has the Rebels on high alert heading into their first 2012 clash at AAMI Park against the three-time championship winning Blues.

The Chiefs scored six tries against the Rebels, and last season the Blues scored the same against the Victorian based franchise, winning 40-23 at North Harbour.

Some Rebels, including new recruit James O’Connor, said there was no reason to panic as it was just a pre-season match, while former Wallaby Mark Gerrard told the Age the franchise was glad the side got an early hit out.

'I'm glad it was a trial,' Gerrard said.

'There were a couple of combinations where we've got to iron out the creases and get used to the players we have around us and work from there, there's not really that much.'

'You've just got to reinforce the positive, reinforce what's going on at this time of the season. (the season opener) is not for another three weeks. We've still got a few things to address but overall I don't think we need to stress or worry about what's happening right now.'

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