St.George Queensland Reds side to play Highlanders

Apr 7 • General News, Super Rugby • 1124 Views • Comments Off on St.George Queensland Reds side to play Highlanders

The St.George Queensland Reds have announced their side to take on the Highlanders at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

The side features two changes to the starting lineup, with prop James Slipper slotting in and resuming the captaincy, and Chris Feauai-Sautia returning to the wing after missing the last match due to illness.

This is Slipper’s first start in 2016, after missing four rounds of competition due to knee and shoulder surgery following the 2015 Rugby World Cup. His first match of the season was as a replacement against the Waratahs in Round 5.

Reds co-interim head coach Matt O’Connor said: “It’s good to be able to welcome James (Slipper) back to the starting side. He’s worked hard to get himself back on the field and was very pleased to get some minutes against the Waratahs. You want your most experienced players on the field and James will offer plenty of leadership on Saturday.

“The team returned from the bye with a lot of enthusiasm for the challenge that awaits us on Saturday. The Highlanders are a dangerous team and we know we cannot afford to give them opportunities. We have grown in our performances each week and know it will take nothing short of our best to knock off the defending champions. We look forward to the challenge.”

The Reds face the Highlanders in Brisbane this Saturday, 9 April, at Suncorp Stadium at 7:45pm (local time). The match will be broadcast live on Fox Sports.

St.George Queensland Reds team to play Highlanders
7:45pm, Saturday 9 April, Suncorp Stadium
1. James Slipper (C)
2. Andrew Ready
3. Greg Holmes
4. Cadeyrn Neville
5. Rob Simmons
6. Hendrik Tui
7. Liam Gill
8. Jake Schatz
9. Nick Frisby
10. Jake McIntyre
11. Eto Nabuli
12. Anthony Fainga’a
13. Samu Kerevi
14. Chris Feauai-Sautia
15. Karmichael Hunt

16. Saia Fainga’a
17. Sef Fa’agase
18. Sam Talakai
19. Ben Matwijow
20. Curtis Browning
21. Scott Gale
22. Sam Greene
23. Ayumu Goromaru

This season sees the return of charitable initiative ‘Be Great, Do Good’, with Reds teammates Cadeyrn Neville and Ben Matwijow wearing unique headgear each week to support different charities by raising funds and awareness for their cause.

The initiative was founded by Reds prop Ben Daley, who will continue to support the charities despite missing four months due to injury.

This week the players will wear headgear in support of Camp Gallipoli. Through a series of commemorative events, Camp Gallipoli aspires to instill the ANZAC ideals of mateship, courage, inclusiveness and self-sacrifice into the youth of Australia, to maintain our unique ANZAC Spirit for future generations. Participants in Queensland Rugby’s Future Indigenous Leaders Program, drawn from regional Indigenous communities will take part in this year’s Camp Gallipoli celebrations in Brisbane.