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Red-carded Rebels star Reece Hodge handed Super Rugby Pacific suspension

(Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

Melbourne Rebels star Reece Hodge has been handed a one-week suspension by SANZAAR after he was sent from the field in his side’s Super Rugby Pacific loss to the Force on the weekend.

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Hodge was brandished two yellow cards, one for cynical play and the other for a deliberate knock down, in the second half of the Rebels’ 28-3 defeat in Melbourne on Saturday, with the second culminating in a red card.

Upon review of Hodge’s dismissal, the SANZAAR found the 54-test Wallabies utility back guilty of his indiscretions and have banned him from playing in this week’s match between the Rebels and Fijian Drua on the Sunshine Coast.

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The verdict leaves the Rebels without one of their most experienced squad members as they continue their search for their first win of the new season.

The Rebels will continue to do so without many of their Wallabies, with 2021 World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year nominee Andrew Kellaway (foot), Rob Leota (hamstring) and Pone Fa’amausili (calf) all sidelined with injury.

Hopes remain high, however, that Kellaway will feature this weekend, which could prove helpful given his versatility as both a wing and fullback.

Others who remain unavailable due to injury include loose forward Josh Kemeny and lock Trevor Hosea, while Wallabies hooker Jordan Uelese and wing Lachie Anderson are in a race against time to prove their fitness for the match against the Drua.

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That fixture on Friday, which has been relocated from Brisbane due to flooding at Suncorp Stadium, stands as a bottom-of-the-table clash, with both team occupying 11th and 12th spots, respectively.

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1 Comment
i
isaac 1248 days ago

The best chance for the Fijian Drua to win their maiden super rugby match

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Flankly 2 hours ago
There remains a culture of excuses in Australian rugby

One team has exceeded expectations in this series and the other has not. Hats off to a Wallabies team in rebuild mode for a smile-inducing effort in the second test (especially the first half).


Completely agree that a top ranked team finds ways to defend a big half-time lead, and they did not quite pull it off. The fact that Piardi did not run the Head Contact Process in the 79th minute Tizzano/Morgan incident is worth discussion. However, Schmidt will be pointing out to the team that avoiding a defensive breakdown on your own 5m line at that point in the game is the thing in their control. Equally, clarification 3-2022 says you cannot jump or dive as a means of avoiding a tackle, as Sheehan admits to have done, but the question for Australia is why and how they were facing a tap-and-go 5m from their line (again).


Where I disagree with this article is the suggestion that Australia are caught in an excuse-making trap of poor performance. For me they are on a steep curve of improvement, and from what we have seen of Schmidt, there is little reason to assume that this will end now. Granted Australia lacks player depth, and that’s a real problem against big teams and in major campaigns. But the Lions are a pretty good team, probably ranking in the top five in the world, and the rebuilding Wallabies were seconds (and a couple of 50/50 ref calls) away from beating them at the MCG.


In the end, the Wallabies are building to a home RWC, and were expected to lose the Lions series on the way to that goal. Success looks like being seriously competitive in the series loss, with good learnings about what needs to be fixed. A series win would have been a fantastic bonus, and humiliation for the UK/Ireland team.


I expect the Wallabies to be very credible in the 2025 RC, to be much better in 2026, and to be a very challenging opponent for any team in the 2027 RWC.

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