Promising prop Massimo De Lutiis will make his comeback to the Queensland Reds line-up when the new Super Rugby AUS competition launches at Ballymore Stadium on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
His diligent rehabilitation from a dislocated wrist over the past four months has been rewarded with a starting spot at tighthead against the ACT Brumbies.<\/p>\n
The back to Ballymore vibe is strong with a family-friendly 3pm kick-off for this positive new development tier for Australian rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe body feels great. The more rugby the better as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d De Lutiis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor this Super Rugby AUS, we\u2019ve made a rule as a squad that we are just going to compete with each other for spots. We are not going to go easy on each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys are keen for this weekend. Sunday arvo. Ballymore. How good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Reds team named today includes Wallabies Jock Campbell, Seru Uru and Aidan Ross and a host of Super Rugby Pacific regulars including winger Tim Ryan, halfback Kalani Thomas and flyhalf Harry McLaughlin-Phillips.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s Australia Under-18s captain Tom Robinson, 19, has been selected to start at openside flanker to build on his encouraging Reds debut against Tonga in August.<\/p>\n
Brothers hooker Theo Fourie, 24, will start. His chance to impress follows a determined journey from Rockhampton Grammar to the training squads of the Melbourne Rebels and NSW Waratahs.<\/p>\n
Hamish Muller, a high-performer for Brothers, will start in the backrow after adding 8kg to his frame since his Reds debut in Japan last year lit the flame to keep polishing his game.<\/p>\n
Reds Head Coach Les Kiss is a strong supporter of Super Rugby AUS and the opportunity it offers to mesh seasoned players with emerging stars from the Buildcorp Reds Academy and club standouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really welcome this new competition in the form of Super Rugby AUS,\u201d Kiss said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be a competitive league, exactly what Australian rugby needs to keep building its strength and depth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has many layers. There are players stretching for higher honours. In this first team of 23, we have the opportunity to introduce some emerging players with eyes full of hope as they play beside experienced players. We are also rewarding some outstanding performers from club rugby.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Winger) Will Cartwright is in the reserves off the back of an outstanding Hospital Cup grand final when he scored three tries and showed his skill on the ground and in the air.<\/p>\n
\u201cMassimo really dedicated himself to his rehab which mirrors the way he goes about improvements in his game. The opportunity to get back out on the field is perfectly timed for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to have the Academy and club boys involved and see their hard work in our training weeks rewarded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome the Brumbies to Ballymore. It’s our home and we want to protect it.<\/p>\n
“For our professional rugby department of coaches and staff, this competition is valuable to keep their swords as sharp as possible.”<\/p>\n
Winger Heremaia Murray returns from a knee injury while premiership-winning Bond University hooker George Blake will advance his skills at loosehead prop from the bench.<\/p>\n
The Queensland Reds Under-19s will play the Brumbies Under-19s in the Super Rugby Under-19s competition from 1pm.<\/p>\n
QUEENSLAND REDS vs ACT BRUMBIES<\/p>\n
Ballymore Stadium<\/p>\n
3pm Sunday, September 14<\/p>\n
(1pm Reds v Brumbies – Super Rugby U19s)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Live on Stan Sport<\/p>\n
Queensland Reds<\/p>\n
1 Aidan Ross (vc) \u2013 Bond University<\/p>\n
2 Theo Fourie – Brothers<\/p>\n
3 Massimo De Lutiis – Wests<\/p>\n
4 Connor Vest – Souths<\/p>\n
5 Seru Uru – Souths<\/p>\n
6 Hamish Muller – Brothers<\/p>\n
7 Tom Robinson \u2013 University of Queensland<\/p>\n
8 Joe Brial \u2013 University of Queensland<\/p>\n
9 Kalani Thomas \u2013 University of Queensland<\/p>\n
10 Harry McLaughlin-Phillips – Wests<\/p>\n
11 Heremaia Murray \u2013 Bond University<\/p>\n
12 Dre Pakeho – Brothers<\/p>\n
13 Isaac Henry – Wests<\/p>\n
14 Tim Ryan – Brothers<\/p>\n
15 Jock Campbell (c) \u2013 University of Queensland<\/p>\n
Reserves<\/p>\n
16 Zac Hough \u2013 University of Queensland<\/p>\n
17 George Blake \u2013 Bond University<\/p>\n
18 Sef Fa’agase – Sunnybank<\/p>\n
19 Charlie Brosnan – Brothers<\/p>\n
20 Kohan Herbert – Souths<\/p>\n
21 James Martens – GPS<\/p>\n
22 Will Cartwright – Brothers<\/p>\n
23 Xavier Rubens – Souths<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Promising prop Massimo De Lutiis will make his comeback to the Queensland Reds line-up when the new Super…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,12061,760,85],"class_list":["post-131945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-queensland-reds","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}