Stathi Paxinos reports for the Syndey Morning Herald on the Melbourne Rebels' pre-season preparation as they faced the Chiefs in a friendly in Geelong.
"Kurtley Beale showed glimpses of what the Melbourne Rebels faithful hope to see this Super Rugby season when the Wallabies full-back provided some of the rare moments of excitement in the team's 36-0 loss to the Chiefs in the year's first pre-season game last night in Geelong.
"At first glance the scoreline, with the Rebels giving up six tries, could give the impression that last year's wooden-spooners could be in for another hard season, but fellow star recruit James O'Connor disagreed. ''A trial game's [just] a trial game''.
"Beale excited the crowd with a couple of line busts and runs from full-back and, after playing about 30 minutes, declared that his troublesome hamstring, which he injured at last year's World Cup, had held up during the game."
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