The Rebels are looking far sharper. They bash the ball up the midfield, which creates an overlap for Placid to exploit after the ball is quickly spread wide. The Rebels are in complete control.

The Lions hold onto the ball at the ruck and give yet another penalty away. Harris sets up a lineout on the Lions 22m line.

Harris hits the post from 10m out in front of the poles. Poor kick.

The Rebels make the Lions pay for the yellow card. Inman runs a perfect straight line which allows him to barge through the Lions defence and get over the line for his sides opening try of the match.

The Rebels look to take advantage of their numerical advantage as they immediately put the ball through the hands and make very good ground. The Lions give away their 3rd penalty in the opening 5 minutes. The Rebels opt not to take the points, but instead opt to set up a lineout.

Cynical play

The Lions enter the ruck from the side and are penalised. Harris lines up a kick at poles.

The Rebels show their intentions early as they choose not to kick, but to instead counter attack. So far the Lions defence has held strong.

The teams are on the park, kickoff is seconds away.

Hello and welcome to today's clash between the Melbourne Rebels and the Lions. The Rebels come off a hard fought victory away against the Western Force, while the Lions come into the match off a tough lose to the Crusaders which saw their scrum get absolutely demolished. There is no doubt that the Rebels will focus on the scrums today. The Lions have shifted their backline around which see's Elton Jantjies start at inside centre. Strangely enough, the two wins that the Rebels have recorded this year, have both been away from home, so they will be desperate to reward the home crowd today.