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Rebels continue their Australian conference dominance

Reece Hodge touches down for one of his three tries during the Rebels' thumping of the Sunwolves. (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)

The Melbourne Rebels have maintained their stranglehold over the Australian conference after dominating the Sunwolves in Melbourne on Saturday night.

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The Rebels opened up a seven-point margin on their nearest rivals, the NSW Waratahs, as they ran in six tries in a commanding 42-15 win.

Playing at fullback, Reece Hodge bagged a hat-trick to underline his World Cup credentials.

Rebels coach Dave Wessels knows his team are leading the Australian Super Rugby standings but he’s not interested in any points buffer the team may have.

Wessels has made a point this season of not looking at the competition ladder after they were burnt last year, fading to finish ninth overall and just miss the play-offs.

“A seven-point lead feels good but if you hadn’t of told me that I wouldn’t have known,” Wessels said.

“One of the things I made a mistake with last year was getting all mixed up in all kinds of permutations and things we had to do.

“I realised that the only thing we can control is making sure that our performances every week get that little bit better so I’ve resolved to never look at the table – it’s just a little discipline that my focus in on our team and trying to win every game that we can and to get that little bit better every week and so far I’m probably a lot happier because of that.”

While the backs, including Hodge, Billy Meakes, Quade Cooper and Will Genia, got all the try-scoring action, Wessels was particularly pleased their defence limited to Sunwolves to just two tries, both scored by winger Semisi Masirewa.

He felt the Rebels were showing growing maturity and resilience in the face of mounting pressure from their opponents, pin-pointing a period just after half-time when they held them up over the tryline.

“Had they scored then it could have been a different game,” Wessels said.

“I’m really proud because I think in the past we would let some soft moments creep into our game but we threw bodies under the ball, we held them up and we managed to get out of there and survive that part of the game which in the end proved pivotal.

“That’s the resilience that we’re building as a team in those tough moments.”

– AAP / RugbyPass

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J
JW 2 hours ago
Mick Cleary: 'These blokes have done the jersey proud, with their buy-in and with their relish.'

Jesus PR that’s another great conclusion. I can definitely see it as blocker to bringing through new talent in time for the WC. NZ underwent a lot of change in 2018 following the Lions tour, in part thanks to key injuries. Despite the revenue spending Aaron Cruden (getting frail even at his young age then) and Lima Sopoaga (along with Julien Savea), 2 of the 3 1st5s in the Lions squad, both left before the 2019 WC for example. But when we apply your logic, their delayed departure prevented Richie Mounga and Damien McKenzie (the 15 who got injured and threw a spanner in the works) from brought through in what would possible now be considered the preferred WC preparation. Ditto on the win with a scramble of constant change their all the way through to their WC 3rd/4th playoff.


Theres certainly cause to account for certain circumstances eventuating being influenced by a Lions tour. But as both nations here select from domestic players only, theres also cause to put similar emphasis on the contracting model in general, as sometimes you can hold on too long. Ireland has a similar model, talking to another irishman here he suggests it has lead to selecting based on contracts, money being spent on a player centrally contracted. So I would not so much worry about fatigue (in part because some incomplete analysis I had done on all.rugby shows the Irish contingent have low minutes this year) but continuing to select underperforming and aging players. When in a pure context of building for a WC, one would normally want to move on an develop the future.

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