The Melbourne Rebels have named their 30 strong Super Rugby squad for the 2012 Super Rugby season which includes several new signings including James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale.
Rebels Head Coach Damien Hill said that today that he was looking forward to guiding the new squad into the 2012 Super Rugby season, “Our aim is to continue to build a list that is competitive for this season and the years to follow.”
“Kurtley Beale and James O’Connor are two of the games most exciting young talents. Their decision to sign with the Rebels reaffirms that Melbourne and the club, has a Rugby Union program that is attractive to players of this calibre.
“We also see new additions Paul Alo-Emile, Mitch Inman and James King as players for the future, while strong running Centre Lloyd Johansson is our first Victorian born Rebel. Lloyd brings with him Super Rugby and Wallaby experience, and we hope that Lloyd will forge a path for future Victorian born Rebels.
“Our EPS signings also give us a solid mix of youth and experience. Isaiah Mosese, Nick Stirzaker and Cadeyrn Neville are all under 22 years of age, while Luke Holmes and Eddie Aholelei are ready made tight 5 players.
“Overall we are pleased with our list for 2012, we believe we have recruited well and have a solid platform to build on.”
The Rebels begin pre-season training today, Monday, October 31.
2012 Core Playing Squad (alphabetical order)
1 Paul Alo-Emile *, 2 Kurtley Beale *, 3 Rodney Blake, 4 Adam Byrnes, 5 Alister Campbell, 6 Danny Cipriani, 7 Tom Chamberlain, 8 Tim Davidson, 9 Gareth Delve, 10 Adam Freier, 11 Mark Gerrard, 12 Nic Henderson, 13 James Hilgendorf, 14 Julian Huxley, 15 Mitch Inman *, 16 Lloyd Johansson *, 17 Luke Jones, 18 James King *, 19 Richard Kingi, 20 Michael Lipman, 21 Lachlan Mitchell, 22 Stirling Mortlock, 23 James O’Connor *, 24 Nick Phipps, 25 Hugh Pyle, 26 Ged Robinson, 27 Jarrod Saffy, 28 Heath Tessmann, 29 Cooper Vuna, 30 Laurie Weeks.
2012 Extended Playing Squad (EPS)
1 Eddie Aholelei *, 2 Luke Holmes, 3 Isaiah Mosese *, 4 Cadeyrn Neville *, 5 Nick Stirzaker *
*denotes new signing