Rebels leave Waratahs' Super Rugby season in tatters
On life support themselves, the Melbourne Rebels have driven another nail into the NSW Waratahs' coffin with a spirited 27-21 Super Rugby Pacific derby win in Sydney.
The cash-strapped Rebels, their very existence uncertain beyond 2024 as Rugby Australia mulls the side's future, rose from the dead on Good Friday to consolidate a top-eight spot with a crucial comeback victory at Allianz Stadium.
Tries in the last 10 minutes from inspirational Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou and winger Filipo Daugunu secured Melbourne a momentous win after the Waratahs looked to have pulled off a vital great escape.
"It's massive for us to get a win, after the last two weeks of not being able to get a win," said Rebels captain Rob Leota.
"To come away and win on the road is definitely big and gives us a lot of confidence going back home next week, so I'm pretty happy with that."
After three straight narrow defeats, the Waratahs were desperate to rebound and remain in finals contention.
Instead, coach Darren Coleman suffered a huge pre-game blow with powerhouse prop Angus Bell (back) joining fellow Wallabies forward Ned Hanigan (hamstring) and in-form flanker Charlie Gamble (calf) on the sidelines.
Coleman was forced to hand Australian under-20s front-rower Jack Barrett and Sione Misiloi unscheduled Super Rugby debuts.
The disruption may or may not have led to an error-riddled, though entertaining, opening quarter featuring frenetic handling and desperate, scrambling defence - but no points from either side.
Melbourne eventually opened the scoring in the 21st minute, somewhat against the run of play, with a try to winger Lachlan Anderson, set up from a quick tap and burst from halfback Ryan Louwrens inside his own territory.
The Waratahs levelled soon afterwards with a fine team effort when flanker Lachie Swinton finished a movement involving eight sets of hands and finally an improbable flick pass from prop Tom Ross to skip through and score under the posts.
But the Tahs suffered another major setback when lock Hugh Sinclair's clumsy attempted tackle on Anderson resulted in a head clash and a yellow card that helped the Rebels to a 10-7 halftime lead.
Melbourne might have lived to regret spurning multiple opportunities to extend their lead with penalty-goal attempts, instead opting for scrums and lineouts inside the Waratahs' territory early in the second half.
NSW produced one of the great blunders themselves, with replacement lock Miles Amatosero inexplicably failing to tap the ball from a penalty in front of the Melbourne posts with his team still three points down.
Coleman couldn't believe it, with the cameras capturing the coach pulling his hair out in the NSW box.
Langi Gleeson briefly eased the stress when the Waratahs' best performer charged over to give the home side a four-point lead on the hour mark.
But the Rebels' late double strike left the Waratahs languishing in 10th spot on the ladder with a treacherous run of matches to come.
They head to Canberra next week to play the Australian benchmark ACT Brumbies before facing a trio of tough New Zealand rivals in the Crusaders, Chiefs and Hurricanes.
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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