Melbourne Rebels will be without injured star Will Genia for the next three games with the 30-year-old also in doubt for the Wallabies in the June test series .
Genia injured his knee in the teams 55-10 loss to Christchurch Crusaders at AAMI Park on Friday night, leaving the game in the 38th minute after trying to play through the injury.
Will Genia's knee is treated on the sideline on Friday night.
Photo: Fox Sports
Scans on Saturday afternoon showed Genia has a low-grade strain to his MCL which was good news after the early diagnosis was a grade two or three tear.
The Rebels are optimistic Genia may only miss four weeks and while this will rob them of their most important player for season-defining games with the ACT Brumbies, Tokyo Sunwolves and Auckland Blues, it could keep the door open for Genia to play for the Wallabies during the three-test series with Ireland in June.
But what will also need to be assessed is the likelihood of further damage to Genias knee, which comes on his return from a hamstring strain which forced him out of the South African tour.
Advertisement
The Rebels have taken some crippling blows in the past five games but captain Adam Coleman remains confident his side can “do something special” this Super Rugby season.
The club lost their fifth-straight game on Friday night, with the Crusaders piling on 42 unanswered points in the second half.
Losing Genia makes the Rebels chances of overtaking New South Wales Waratahs to win the Australian conference even less likely.
But with fullback Dane Haylett-Petty back for Saturday nights showdown with ACT Brumbies in Canberra, Coleman still sees his men as capable of causing a boil-over in the Canberra cold.
“Ive got full confidence in the team and I know something special is going to happen within this team,” Coleman said after the game.
“I know we have to turn this performance around but we have the right people in the boat to do that and Ive got full confidence in the boys to turn this around.
“We have got that depth and like Dave [Wessels] was saying, missing Willy G in that second half hurts, Dane Haylett-Petty hasnt played so there are some guys who can turn games when its an arm wrestle and you need something special.
“For everyone else in the squad it is about having that detail and accountability and we didnt have that tonight.”
As brutal as recent games have been, the Rebels remain in the finals race and have performed strongly against other Australian sides early in the season.
Wessels said regaining confidence and fixing errors would be top of the list this week.
“What we have lacked is that when we come under pressure against the really good sides we battle to handle that,” Wessels said.
“The big missing piece is the bits of missing detail and the guys have to be accountable for that.
“We are missing key details on what guys are supposed to be doing and thats on us as coaches but also on players – we need to tidy that up if we hope to go to Canberra to beat the Brumbies.”
The Rebels play the ACT Brumbies in Canberra on Saturday at 7.45pm.
Comments disabled
Roy Ward is a Sports writer for The Age.
Morning & Afternoon Newsletter
Delivered Mon–Fri.
