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Rampaging prop Taniela Tupou helps the Reds to an impressive win over Melbourne Rebels
By AAP
A two-try haul by rampaging prop Taniela Tupou has helped the Queensland Reds to an impressive 44-19 win over Melbourne Rebels, reclaiming the top spot on the Super Rugby AU ladder. The Brumbies moved ahead after their thrilling win against the NSW Waratahs on Friday night but it was short-lived with the unbeaten Reds regaining the competition lead after Saturday night's AAMI Park victory.
The Rebels did themselves no favours with two of the Reds' six-try haul scored from intercepted passes. The Tongan Thor first came off a maul in the third minute and Tupou was in again for the Reds in the 17th minute after James O'Connor split the defence and found the 135kg Wallabies prop on the charge.
Queensland skipper O'Connor said Tupou was a massive asset to the side, who have now won six from six. "Everyone notices Taniela for his big scrummaging and big runs but the amount of work the big fella does is second to none," O'Connor told Stan Sports.
"He works tirelessly from sideline to sideline and does our big carries for us and our structure doesn't work without our tight five, they're integral."
With centre Hunter Paisami intercepting a Reece Hodge pass and racing 80 metres to touch down, the Reds were out to a 24-0 lead after just 18 minutes. The shell-shocked Rebels finally got some ball to claw their way back into the match thanks to Frank Lomani, with the Fijian Test half-back playing on the wing.
He ran a superb line to benefit from a perfectly timed Matt Toomua pass and then six minutes later made a break and was able to offload to Hodge. The centre was chased hard by Queensland fullback Bryce Hegarty but managed to slam the ball over the line to put the Rebels back in the hunt at 24-14 at half-time.
But a second intercepted pass, this time thrown by Toomua, hurt the home side. Winger Jock Campbell snaffled the ball and flanker Fraser McReight dived across in the ensuing play, while Campbell then extended the margin himself in the 63rd minute.
Melbourne No8 Michael Wells got a well-earned five-pointer soon after but the Reds remained in full control, even adding a late try to reserve back Josh Flook. Rebels captain Toomua said his team were rattled early on and failed to build enough pressure on the Reds.
"We were in it at half-time and then after that intercept, the game was pretty much done," Toomua said. "I was glad we got back into a contest but ultimately you can't give a team like that such a big lead."
After spending the week on the road due to Covid-19 restrictions Queensland will return home to host the Brumbies next Saturday night with the top two teams jostling for a home final.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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