Rebels not daunted by rampaging Hurricanes
Tony McGahan and the Melbourne Rebels refuse to be intimidated by the all-conquering Hurricanes.
The reigning champions are fresh off an 83-17 thumping of the Sunwolves - which stars Dane Coles and Beauden Barrett watched from the bench.
It was a devastating performance and the 'Canes look to be playing an untouchable level of rugby but McGahan said his team were not daunted by the task at hand.
"I don’t know if it’s daunting, I just think it’s a really good quality opposition, pretty much like everyone else in the competition," he said.
"We need to make sure we get some away wins and there’s no better opportunity than Saturday night."
When questioned as to how his team would stop the attacking arsenal Barrett has at his disposal, McGahan said he was confident in his team's preparation.
"That’s the challenge of coming here - we knew that early in the piece, at the start of our preparation and this will give us a great barometer of where we are at, what level we are competing at," he said.
"More importantly the boys are looking forward to really competing hard tomorrow night."
The Rebels will be boosted by the debut of highly touted NRL convert Marika Koroibete as well as the return of James Hanson and Mitch Inman.
"It’s good to get a few guys back, we’ve still got a few to return - slowly but surely we are getting a few boys back and adding to hopefully what we can show tomorrow night," McGahan said.
"It’s great for Marika to be able to get a start.
"He has missed the last few weeks at training so he gets an opportunity to play and he just needs to do the things that come naturally to him.
"First and foremost we need to get him out there on the pitch and we can get a marker from there."
The Rebels take on the Hurricanes tomorrow from 3.15pm AEDT, broadcast live on Fox Sports Channel 501.
