A new look Southern Districts outfit has been rebuilding throughout the past two Covid interrupted seasons.

But coach Todd Louden thinks his playing group is now ready to fulfil their potential. The Rebels have recruited well, plus they’ll welcome back a number of Super Rugby players towards the back end of the season.

Overview with Todd Louden:

“We’re in a pretty good place, even with all the interruptions over the last month. We still haven’t trialled yet though,” coach Todd Louden told Rugby News. 

“Our first trial was washed out, then we had a week off last week where we had an internal training camp. 

“The camp helped give us a lot of clarity around what we call our base game and we’ll now look to build on that throughout the season. I’m pretty happy with where we’re at right now and we’ve still got two trials to come to refine things ahead of round one.

“I think we were on our way back up the ladder when the competition was cancelled last year. In 2020, we had a lot of young players and a lot of injuries. Last year, I think we were building really nicely and we were in really good shaping looking towards the back end of the season. 

“We played a lot of our harder games first up. This year, our draw is more evenly spread and I think we’re in a much better position. 

“For the first time in a long time, we’re expecting to get a handful of players back once Super Rugby ends. Jed Holloway, Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco and Tetera Faulkner will all come back from the Waratahs, then we’ll have Andrew Tuala and Isoa Nasilasila back around the same time. 

“In the backs we’ve also got Will Thomas coming back to the club, after spending a few years back in Wales. 

“Of the guys we have recruited, they’ve all got some sort of a connection to the club through family or friends. That’s been really positive and helped with their transition.”

2021 position (after 10 rounds): 8th – 4 wins from 9 matches

Ins: Will Thomas (Welsh 7s), George Gibson (Brisbane), Greg Foe (Wellington), Liam Richmond (Canberra), Toka Sopoaga (New Zealand), Zak Carr (Randwick).

Outs: Andrew Tuala (MLR), Isoa Nasilasila (Fijian Drua) James Wayland (Eastwood), Declan Barnett (Spain), Sam Tabuatamata (retired)

Key Areas of Improvement: 

“It was hard to pick apart last year too much because we didn’t get through the whole season. We’ve probably looked to evolve, rather than change things,” Louden said. 

“Our defensive lineout is one area that we’ve focused on. We had to fix our attacking lineout last year, which we were able to do, so now we’ve looked at our defence. 

“We’ve totally changed up the way we defend. Then our attack has just evolved to help us play to our strengths.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“Josh Bokser in the backrow is a real talent, I think he’ll go places. Phil Potgeiter’s leadership has been fantastic and I reckon he’s in for a big year. 

“Matt Teki is back playing with the club. He had a year off to focus on work last year but is back and looking really sharp. 

“Liam Richmond is a fantastic game manager and I think he’ll be really good for us in the halves. We’ve also picked up Toka Sopoaga, who is Lima’s brother, he’s got plenty of talent. 

“We’ve picked up some real speedsters, so it’ll be interesting to see which players can earn a spot in the starting side in our next two trials. 

“Zac Carr has looked really good at No.13 since joining us.”

Bold prediction for the season ahead: 

“As all the coaches have said in the earlier articles on Rugby News, it’s going to be really close. You won’t be able to have a week off and not perform. 

“It’s a cliche, but we just want to take it one week at the time and keep improving through the early parts of the season. 

“I think we’ll be in the finals and from there, anything can happen. This year, we’ll have players coming back at the right time like Easts, Randwick and Uni traditionally do so that’s going to put us in a good position later in the season.”