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Kia ora, good evening and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the Melbourne Rebels v Blues Super Rugby Pacific clash at Melbourne's AAMI Park.
Entering this weekend,the Aucklanders sat just one point adrift of the tabletopping Hurricanes, ready to strike, if their rivals from the NZ capital stumble against NSW Waratahs.
Riding a six-game winning streak, they are the form team of the competition and showed their ability with a big win over Western Force two weeks ago, followed by a last-ditch gamewinner against Queensland Reds.
The Rebels have overachieved during a season that sees them teetering on the brink of financial extinction. They dropped a spot to fifth on the table last week, when they provided the champion Crusaders their second win of the season, but will be a different proposition at home.
Join us at 9:30pm for kickoff.
TAB Odds: Blues $1.20, Rebels $4.20
'100 percent ready to go': Blues forward Suafoa eyes return against Rebels after cancer scare
Blues forward Cam Suafoa has declared himself ready to return to Super Rugby Pacific action, after seemingly winning his battle with cancer over recent months.
The 20-game veteran has been named on the bench for Friday's contest against Melbourne Rebels, after spending the last couple of months undergoing radiation treatment for high grade sarcoma.
Suafoa, 25, underwent surgery to remove a tumour from his back, but was healthy enough to play his blazer game against NSW Waratahs at Sydney in March, before his treatment began taking toll on his energy levels.
This week, he is buzzing at returning to his fulltime role with the Blues.
"Pretty excited," said Suafoa. "Good to be back in the team and with the boys at the Sunshine Coast, definitely looking forward to it.
"I've had time to spend with family and focus on my health, but being back now, I'm definitely keen to get into it and see how it goes.
"Healthwise, I'm 100 percent ready to go."
Suafoa's struggles have inspired teammates, who have compiled a six-game winning streak to sit just one point off competition leaders Hurricanes.
"He's a kid that didn't want any special treatment, when we all found out about it," reflected flanker Dalton Papali'i. "He was still getting treatment while playing and he wasn't missing a beat at training.
"He got those weeks off just to get a little bit better, but that's a lot of resilience for him to do what he's been doing. It shows so much courage to come back into the fold and want to play.
"All the boys are around him, but I think he's got itchy feet and once he's got over it, he's keen to get stuck in."
Suafoa admits his match fitness probably isn't where it should be, as you'd expect, so the timing of his introduction to the game will be key to his contribution.
"It's been pretty tough on the lungs the last couple of weeks, just a lot of rehab running," he said. "Glad to be done with that, and actually play some footy and throw a football around."
