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Will Genia unlikely for must-win Rebels clash against Crusaders
By Online Editors
Melbourne halfback Will Genia is likely to sit out his team's Super Rugby clash with the all-conquering Crusaders, but the Rebels won't be leaving anything in the tank as they attempt to lock down a finals berth.
The Rebels blew a golden chance to cement a maiden play-off spot with a 20-15 loss to the NSW Waratahs at AAMI Park on Friday night.
While the effort was there, they paid the price for poor discipline, too many handling errors and conceding 22 turnovers to their opponents' nine.
Melbourne coach Dave Wessels was frustrated by their performance, although he gave credit to the Waratahs who had their season on the line.
"The Waratahs played really well and put a lot of pressure on our ball and defended well," Wessels said.
"We probably just rushed things - we got our tails up and got a bit excited as we tried to get a ball away that wasn't on and that's frustrating."
In the remaining two games, they travel to Christchurch to face the defending champion and ladder-leader Crusaders, and then they're at home against the Chiefs.
Test halfback Will Genia must sit out a match as part of the Wallabies' rest policy, so while Wessels said he hadn't decided when that would be, it makes sense that he misses the trip to New Zealand.
The remainder of their Wallabies contingent have already sat out their quota of games.
But Wessels said his team would go all out to win both games rather than target the Chiefs, who are currently last in the New Zealand conference, therefore theoretically a more winnable game.
They need to finish in the top eight overall for a maiden finals appearance.
Melbourne have had one win in four trips to Christchurch, with a 20-10 victory back in round one of 2015.
"I don't think we've got that luxury," Wessels said.
"We've got to go to Christchurch with a view that we want to win.
"We've got a game that can cause most teams in this comp trouble, as long as we play it consistently for 80 minutes."
AAP
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Latest Comments
That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.
I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough.
England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.
England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.
England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.
If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.
England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.
I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.
On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.
Go to commentsHe’s not got back his form and fitness back after his Achilles' injury. Scrum has been okay, if he can get his fitness back you imagine winning some matches could turn his game around. Tahs will have no excuses next year with their playing and coaching roster. He’s struggled in 24, let’s hope 25 is his year.
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