Thank you to Melbourne Rebels for providing this post by Andrew Stevenson.The RaboDirect Rebels showed incredible strength of character to regain a lead they looked to have spurned, beating the Western Force in another exhilarating FxPro Super Rugby game that went right down to the wire.
The Rebels crafted a dream start, scoring three converted tries in the first quarter before the Force even got on the scoresheet. But their opponents didn’t give up, battling their way back into the match and taking a late lead before a thumping penalty from Mark Gerrard gave the Rebels the win against their Aussie rivals.
Captain Gareth Delve explained just how important the win was for the team, and thanked the fans for their unwavering support.
“This will give us a massive amount of confidence”, Delve said.
“In front of a crowd like this, that have stuck with us through thick and thin, really means a lot to us.
“We’ll turn up to training with a big smile on our face compared to last week, and hopefully build on this and go away to New Zealand and give it a good crack.”
The Rebels were eager to start the game well after the shock they suffered last week, and they couldn’t have dreamt of a better opening period. Looking to run the ball at great tempo and use the full width of the pitch to stretch the defence, the Rebels took the game to the Force right from the off.
Their first score came after a storming run from Jarrod Saffy took the Rebels up over halfway from a lineout deep in their own 22, before Cooper Vuna won a 5m scrum from a clever chip behind the defence.
As the “Rebels” chants echoed around the stadium, a strong attacking platform allowed Danny Cipriani to attack the Force’s defence right on the gain line, before giving Lachie Mitchell a perfect flat pass on an unstoppable running line to score under the posts.
Melbourne continued to move the ball and the Force defence back and forth, and the relentless pressure told again as Lloyd Johansson, the Rebels’ first Victorian-born player, stepped through a gap to score his first Super Rugby try.
When the Force finally managed to win some continued possession from the home team, they were met by an impenetrable Melbourne defence. As his team held out a relentless attack from the visitors, captain Delve sparked the Rebels’ third try by intercepting a pass out of the tackle.
Running the ball from their own line, the Rebels moved it quickly out to Gerrard on the wing, who threw a wily dummy to beat his man. Looking inside he found Cipriani sprinting up in support, the fly half showing his pace to beat the tracking runners to the line. Unfortunately he also seemed to injure a hamstring in the process, and left the field shortly after having been instrumental in the Rebels’ early dominance.
The Force slowly began to claw their way back into the game, scoring two tries before the half-time break and another shortly after to bring the score back to 24-19. Further pressure saw the Rebels’ concede another penalty, and the Rebels’ early lead was all but gone.
The Force then struck another
blow and threatened to repeat last week’s heartache, taking the lead 27-29 for the first time in the match in the 64th minute. Melbourne’s defence was breached as several runners flooded the same channel from a lineout, winger Nick Cummins slipping through to dive down in front of desolate Rebels fans.
But neither the players nor the fans lost hope, and their roar continued to swell with each Rebels attack. With 10 minutes to play, Pocock conceded a penalty giving Gerrard a chance to regain the lead for the Rebels. So well struck was the winger’s kick that the crowd jumped to their feet cheering before it was even halfway to the posts.
The game remained tight right until the death, with both sides frantically searching for a decisive score. In a frightening repeat of last week’s match, it was the Force who held the ball as the siren sounded, keeping possession for what seemed like an eternity as the 10,982 Melbourne crowd became deafening in their support.
But this time the Rebels’ defence was flawless – they kept their discipline and forced their opponents into a handling error to earn a thrilling first victory of the season.
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