Huge crowd watch Rebels v Fiji rugby at St Patrick's College

MELBOURNE Rebels' prop Laurie Weeks has given Ballarat a glowing report after a crowd of 3445 rolled out for the club's trial match with Fiji.Weeks, who played a half in the Rebels' 42-27 win over the Pacific Islanders at St Patrick's College, liked the idea of similar pre-season fixtures being scheduled in Ballarat in coming years."I love it, especially for us being a new team in the competition. Our job is really to spread the word of rugby, not only through Melbourne, but Victoria," Weeks said."The turnouts we have had, especially here in Ballarat and Morwell (against Tonga), have just been amazing. If we can turn one person into a rugby fan then we're doing our job."It seems out here we've got a great following of people and to see the big numbers of the Rebel Army down here is just amazing. The commitment they have shown to our team has been awesome."Despite missing its European-based players, Fiji provided the Rebels with their toughest competition to date. The Rebels had romped in over Tonga 43-13 at Olympic Park and 54-0 at Morwell in earlier practice matches.Weeks said the Fijians had served as an ideal lead-up to the Rebels' Super Rugby debut on February 18."It was a hot day and we got run around a bit by the Fijians," Weeks said."You can tell by their success in the 7s tournaments that they throw the ball around and beat people with speed and flare. That is their main strength."In trials you always want to have a few good, hard hit-outs ? and against Pacific Island teams you are always going to get that. They are always going to challenge us physically."The Rebels will take on their first Super Rugby rival in the last of their trial matches, against the Crusaders, at AAMI Park on Saturday