Slipper looking out for livewire Ioane

Tue, Mar 7, 2017, 8:28 AM
Beth Newman
by Beth Newman
James Slipper is ready to come up against his former Reds teammate. Photo: Getty Images"
James Slipper is ready to come up against his former Reds teammate. Photo: Getty Images"

Reds captain James Slipper is looking forward to facing off against ‘livewire’ Digby Ioane this Saturday night.

Ioane is in line for his Crusaders Super Rugby debut against his former team, after missing the opening two matches with a hip injury.

“It’s interesting when you come up against Digby - he’s such a livewire, he’s a powerful bloke, he’s very strong,” he said, speaking to FOX SPORT’s Kick and Chase.

“It’s good to see him back in Super Rugby. to be honest.

“It would have been good to see him back at the Reds but not to be but it’s going to be interesting to see him in a different jersey. Hopefully we have a good game and we’ll catch up after.”

Digby Ioane and the Crusaders are through to the Tens final. Photo: rugby.com.au/Stuart WalmsleySlipper is cautiously optimistic about his fitness for the weekend, after tweaking his troublesome back in a scrum against the Force.

“It wasn’t the nicest feeling, I tweaked it in one of the collapsed scrums,” he said.

“Our physio put me in scrum training and it’s pulled up pretty good.

“It’s going to be another big battle up front with pretty much an All Black scrum, a big test and one I want to be a part of.”

The Reds were given a public dressing down by coach Nick Stiles after their loss to the Force, who described their showing as ‘atrocious’, and Slipper said they had

“We’ve trained really hard and we got stuck in straight away since that last game,” he said.

“We‘ve addressed the things we think we can improve on and coming into this game, we’re mentally fresh and ready to go.

“We’re back at home playing at Suncorp and a lot of players want to put in a performance that we’re proud of because last week wasn’t good enough.”

Super Rugby Kick and Chase airs on FOX SPORTS each Tuesday night, from 6:30pm AEDT.

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