Reds name APC squad

Queensland Reds head coach Eddie Jones today announced his 29-man squad for the upcoming Australian Provincial Championships which kicks off next week.

Jones has included nine players from the Queensland Premier Rugby competition as well as five players from the Reds Academy.

The squad is currently in camp on the Gold Coast preparing for their warm up match against a Fiji Development XV being played at Ballymore this Friday night.

Jones said his side was anticipating a traditional style of Fijian play, heavily influenced by head coach Ilie Tabua, a former Wallaby and Reds player, and Iliesa Tanivula, who played under Jones at the Brumbies.

“We’re really looking forward to the upcoming match and the APC campaign,” Jones said.

“The mixture of Reds, Academy and club players will provide a good opportunity for those club players to experience rugby at a professional level.”

Jones said matches against teams such as the Fijian development side are important, not only for the Reds, but for the development of rugby in the Pacific nations.

“Games like this one and the one we will play later in the year against Samoa greatly assist their development, which is very important.

“It should also be an entertaining game to watch.”

The team to play the Fiji Development XV will be announced on Thursday.

Friday’s game kicks off at 7:00pm at Ballymore with a discount of up to 20% for pre-purchasing tickets from Ticketmaster.

Reds Squad for APC 2006: John Roe (c), David Amosa, Ole Avei, Andrew Brown, Caleb Brown, David Campbell, Mitchell Chapman, David Croft, John Dart, Dominic Fuller, AJ Gilbert, Brett Gillespie, Scott Higginbotham, Herman Hunt, Peter Hynes, Lloyd Johansson, Kuresa Lee, Peter Loane, Quinton Mateo, Stephen Moore, Ben Mowen, Will Munsie, Ed O’Donoghue, Sam Satui, Ernest Skelton, Cameron Treloar, Ben Tune, Brando Va’alu, Henari Veratau.