Melbourne Rebels star Kurtley Beale says he’s 100 per cent over his injuries but concedes he needs to improve his fitness with the Super Rugby clash with his old side NSW looming on Saturday night.
Beale missed Melbourne’s first 2012 encounter with the Waratahs – a 35-19 loss – due to calf soreness, with his early season also interrupted by persistent hamstring issues.
The Wallabies fullback has copped some criticism for looking out of shape, despite being among the Rebels’ best players.
“I am 100 per cent,” Beale said on Wednesday.
“Obviously having soft-tissue injuries, they can hold you back a little bit and get you down in confidence but I’m back 100 per cent.
“I’ve still got a bit of work to do on conditioning the body but that will come.”
Beale said he was watching his diet and had a program in place to be back to his peak within six weeks.
The 23-year-old spent five seasons at NSW before his move south to the Rebels and said he was “very excited” about returning to Sydney.
He wasn’t sure about what reception to expect from the Waratahs’ fans but planned to try to treat it as any other match.
“I don’t want to treat it any differently and lose focus on my job,” Beale said.
“I know there’s a few attacking threats there and their back three, Bernard Foley, Tommy Kingston and Adam Ashley-Cooper, are always dangerous.
“There’s going to be focus on that but I think for us, as a team collectively, it’s important for us to stick together and follow the game strategy.”
The Rebels are looking to rebound from a 37-6 thrashing at the hands of the Brumbies, which their coach Damien Hill described as “embarrassing”.
Beale said his side needed to try to contain the Waratahs’ powerful forward pack, which this week is set to include Wallaby Rocky Elsom in his first match of the season.
“They’ve got a Wallaby front-row and then having Cliffy Palu at the back, it’s going to help them a lot in trying to gain momentum so it’s important for us to chop legs and really get under them and stop their force because, if we don’t do that, their backs will be very dangerous.”
Both teams are due to name their line-ups on Thursday.
