'It's not acceptable - we've got to figure out why and we've got to change it'
After blowing a second successive Super Rugby AU victory, Melbourne Rebels coach Dave Wessels has declared his team's failure to close out games "unacceptable".
A week after missing a post-80 minute kick to beat the Queensland Reds and falling to a 23-21 loss, the Rebels suffered more heart-break against the Brumbies on Saturday night in Canberra.
Reserve halfback Ryan Lonergan booted the biggest kick of his career, literally and figuratively, with a 60m special from the sideline in the 83rd minute for the home side to snaffle a 27-24 victory.
There was plenty to like about the Rebels - their intensity at the breakdown put the Brumbies on the back foot, with the frustration evident in their starting halfback, Wallabies veteran Nic White.
But their failure to convert serious pressure into a try, and faltering finish as they gave up successive penalties left Wessels seething.
"I think we can be tougher on each other than we have been - we dominated most parts of that game and we should have won," Wessels said.
"It's not acceptable - we've got to figure out why and we've got to change it.
"We're going to attack it in the right way and take the next step this week."
Skipper Matt Toomua, who was responsible for all of his team's points with eight penalties from eight attempts, couldn't help but applaud the winning kick from the rookie Brumbies No.9.
He was more upbeat than Wessels.
"It was pretty clutch from Ryan - you've got to tip your hat to that, it's a fair old kick but the game is longer than that last kick," Toomua said.
'I'm pretty disappointed as a leader of the team not to close that out but there's plenty to like so the key for us is to take the positives and the lessons.
"We're not far away and once we get the momentum and get back to stadium, our home, our fans, we'll be hard to beat."
The Rebels have flown to Perth to meet the Western Force, who banked their first Super Rugby win since 2017 with Frid ay night's victory over the NSW Waratahs.
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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