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Fleet v Rays, Preview
August 09, 2007 - 8:15am
Story by: Sportal
Venue & time
North Sydney Oval, Friday, August 10, 7pm (AEST)
Head to head
Debut
Walking wounded
All eyes will be on Wallabies No.8 Wycliff Palu, who will be playing his first match since injuring his shoulder against the All Blacks in Melbourne in June.
Morgan Turinui finished off the Super 14 season with a couple of niggling injuries so it will be interesting to see if the veteran centre is back up to 100 per cent fitness.
Form
Obviously form is hard to judge before the first round of the competition but looking at the teams on paper would suggest that the Rays have an edge in the backline boasting Super 14 players Brett Sheehan, Sam Norton-Knight, Sam Harris, Ben Jacobs and Peter Hewat at fullback. The Fleet are have a backline sprinkled with stars with Josh Valentine, Daniel Halangahu, Morgan Turinui and Gavin Debartolo.
The Fleet possibly boast the stronger pack with Waratahs locks Will Caldwell and Dean Mumm, who is playing at flanker, along with skipper Tim Davidson leading the way. However, Rays skipper Cameron Treloar boasts plenty of Super 14 experience with the Reds, while his second-row partner Chris Thomson, at 204 cm, is the equal tallest player in the competition. Nuggety Waratahs workaholic Beau Robinson compliments Palu's awesome power, but it is the battle of the halves that will probably decide this match
Overall, the Rays seem to have a slight advantage as the Fleet's preparation was hampered by its player's involvement in the Shute Shield finals series
Who's hot
Palu is obviously keen to return to the bullocking form he showed in the start of the Tri Nations, while Norton-Knight will be keen to show he is genuine No.10 material against his main competitor for the job with the Tahs in Halangahu – the same can be said for Valentine and Sheehan.
Teams
Sydney Fleet
1. Sean Baker,
2. Atonio Halangahu,
3. Dayna Edwards,
4. Will Caldwell,
5. Adam Byrnes,
6. Dean Mumm,
7. Tim Davidson (capt),
8. Chris Houston,
9. Josh Valentine,
10. Daniel Halangahu,
11. Leo Afeaki,
12. Tom Azar,
13. Morgan Turinui,
14. Alfred Mafi,
15. Gavin Debartolo.
16. Dan Lewinski,
17. Jeremy Tilse,
18. Matt Whittleston,
19. Patrick McCutcheon,
20. Arthur Little,
21 Danny Kroll,
22. Andrew Barrett.
Central Coast Rays
1. Ofa Fainga'anuku,
2. Al Manning,
3. John Adams,
4. Cameron Treloar (capt),
5. Chris Thomson,
6. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves,
7. Beau Robinson,
8. Wycliff Palu,
9. Brett Sheehan,
10. Sam Norton-Knight,
11. Jordan Macey,
12. Sam Harris,
13. Ben Jacobs,
14. Andrew Smith,
15. Peter Hewat.
16. Dustin McGregor ,
17. Aaron Tawera,
18. Nifo Nifo,
19. Jason Peseta,
20. Steve Evans,
21. Ross Duncan,
22. Jye Mullane
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