Rebels snare Higginbotham from Reds

SYDNEY (AFP) –

The Melbourne Rebels on Friday boosted their forward pack with the acquisition of Wallabies flanker Scott Higginbotham (L), pictured here on March 24, from defending Super 15 champions Queensland Reds.

The Melbourne Rebels on Friday boosted their forward pack with the acquisition of Wallabies flanker Scott Higginbotham from defending Super 15 champions Queensland Reds.

The Rebels said they had signed the 11-Test flanker in a two-year deal, with Higginbotham to join the club for the 2013 season.

Higginbotham, 25, has 59 Super Rugby caps and was an ever-present member of the Reds team that won the 2011 Super Rugby title, finishing the season as their leading try-scorer.

“Scott’s a current Test player who we’re confident will add to the culture of the Melbourne Rebels,” head coach Damien Hill said.

“He’s had an exciting last couple of seasons where he’s proved to be an aggressive, hard-working player, excelling as a ball-runner with the versatility of covering positions at (number) six and eight.

“We believe Scott is a player whose best football is in front of him, he is without doubt a player on the rise, and we’re all very excited about the news he will be joining us next season.”

The athletic Higginbotham played his first Test for the Wallabies from the bench against France in 2010 before getting his first start in the 2011 Tri-Series victory over South Africa in Durban.

He was a member of the Wallabies squad that finished in third place at last year’s World Cup in New Zealand.

Higginbotham joins fellow Wallabies, James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale, at the Rebels.