By CHRIS RATTUE
Dave Duley will return to where his rugby career started to take shape in Brisbane tonight.
And there to greet him on the field will be his good friend and long time team-mate Nathan Sharpe, the Wallaby lock.
The pair have played close to 100 games together, but never been on opposite sides.
Tonight, Duley will line up for the Chiefs against Reds lock Sharpe at Ballymore in the second round of the Super 12.
"It will be a funny feeling," Duley admitted in Brisbane.
Duley was raised in Matamata. At the age of 12 he headed to the Gold Coast with his father and two sisters.
Duley and Sharpe locked the scrum for The Southport School, and went on to play for Australian schoolboys together.
But Duley, an Australian Colt, played only a handful of games for the Reds and with his path to the top seemingly blocked by John Eales, Sharpe and co, he took up an invitation from Bay of Plenty coach Gordon Tietjens to return home.
"Sharpey has always been very talented. They saw him going ahead and I'm more of a plugger and a struggler. But I've finally made the Super 12," said Duley.
Sharpe was looking forward to the battle.
"He's worked his arse off and made it the hard way. He just goes at a million miles and hour and goes all day," he said of Duley, who has the nicknames "Ernie" or "Dingo" after the Australian outback actor.
The big question tonight is whether the Reds have been stung into action after their struggles in Invercargill.
The combination of foreign conditions and trying to get combinations right in the first round undoubtedly contributed to their poor showing against the Highlanders.
They are unlikely to be such a soft target again, especially at Ballymore.
2004 Super 12 draw, results and points table
New Zealand squads and information
Australian squads
South African squads
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