‘‘Against the Chiefs, it will probably be a case of giving the whole squad some game time,’’ Hill said.

‘‘Nearly a third of our squad is new this year, so the more time they can spend together to work on combinations the better.’’

He said the duo and halfback Nick Phipps, all Test players, would only play limited time as they eased themselves back into rugby.

O’Connor has been training at 10 and 12, sharing with English import Danny Cipriani and James Hilgendorf.

The Rebels also face trials against two other New Zealand teams - the Blues at AAMI Park on February 11 and the Crusaders a week later at the same venue.

Their first Super match is against Beale’s old team, NSW, at AAMI on March 2.

‘‘Hopefully, the first two trials will answer a lot of questions regarding combination and where players are at with their skill level and, in the third trial against the Crusaders, we’ll still play a squad but it will be closer to what we’ll end up with against the Waratahs,’’ Hill said.

Hill, who takes over as head coach from Rod Macqueen, is happy with how his side is shaping up.

‘‘Training is going reasonably well but there’s a lot of hard work to be done between now and when we play the Waratahs,’’ he said. ‘‘I think we’re chipping away and I’m happy with the way we’re progressing.’’

He especially praised new front row partners Laurie Weeks and Paul Alo-Emile.