Rebels keep winning formula

The Rebels have named an unchanged side for their match against the ACT Brumbies in Melbourne on Friday.

Rebels coach Damien Hill admitted the team gained a lot from their first-round encounter with the Western Force and was poised to continue to build into this Friday's clash.

"The Brumbies are a completely different unit to the one we beat in our inaugural season," said Hill

"We are going to have to improve on the last week's performance, because this Brumbies side is definitely a step up.

"They will be one of the best sides at the breakdown this season, and that will be our primary focus going into the match."

Rebels captain Gareth Delve noticed some players weren't overly happy with the team's overall performance, however was pleased to get off to a winning start.

"We are certainly happy with four points, but a few heads were down afterwards. However it does show where we have set our standards this year. We want to be consistent, we want to perform and we want to play quality rugby," the Rebels skipper said.

"There were a couple of things we got right over the pre-season that we didn't back up. But we have come away with a win, we come away with a good start and we will build for this Brumbies match which is a huge one for this Club and this city."

Delve also noted playing in Melbourne did spur his side on in the latter stages of the match, and will hopefully do the same in Friday's closing stages.

"It was an absolute treat last Friday. At one stage the sky was orange and purple and that is when we tracked back the 11 point deficit.

"There is no better ground in the world and we all love playing there, the noise was incredible."

Players not considered due to injury include Kimami Sitauti, Jason Woodward and Cooper Vuna.

Rebels: 15 James O'Connor, 14 Lachlan Mitchell, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Rory Sidey, 11 Richard Kingi, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Gareth Delve (captain), 7 Scott Fuglistaller, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Luke Jones, 4 Hugh Pyle, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Nic Henderson.

Replacements: 16 Shota Horie, 17 Paul Alo-Emile, 18 Cadeyrn Neville, 19 Jarrod Saffy, 20 Nic Stirzaker, 21 Alex Rokobaro, 22 Tom English.

Date: Friday, February 22

Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne

Kick-off: 19.40 (08.40 GMT)

Referee: James Leckie

Assistant referees: Angus Gardner, Ian Smith

TMO: George Ayoub