Thank you to our friends at the Rebels Media Team for providing todays Super Rugby match report.
The RaboDirect Rebels suffered a heart-breaking defeat to the Cheetahs on Sunday afternoon, as the visitors scored with the last play of the game to snatch a 33-26 win at AAMI Park.
Having fought their way back into the match from a slow start, the Rebels looked to have the upper hand going into the game’s dying stages, but with the scores tied as the siren sounded the Cheetahs made their final possession count and finished the game with a fantastic team try.
Captain Gareth Delve stayed positive despite the near miss.
“After defeats like that that really sting the team, things can go one of two ways – but what we expect to see from the team is that we tighten up and take that into the Force game on Friday,” said Delve.
“I’d say the boys can’t wait to get back out there now – it’s nice not to have to wait too long.
“This game’s going to come around quickly - we’ll freshen up, get our heads up, and go out there with an attacking mindset.”
The Cheetahs showed their intentions right from the kick-off, expertly moving the ball from one side of the field to the other with composed urgency. As the relentless opening assault threatened the Rebels’ try line, fly half Johan Goosen finally put winger Willie Le Roux through a gap to score in the second minute, and added the extras to give his side a dream start.
The Rebels regrouped however, and replied quickly with a score of their own. From a lineout just short of the Cheetahs’ line, they set up a strong rolling maul and won a penalty as the South Africans had to collapse it. Eschewing an easy three points in search of seven, the Rebels kicked for the corner again and this time hooker Adam Freier was able to burrow over from the back of another well-orchestrated maul. James O’Connor converted from wide on the right to level the scores.
Immediately following the restart however, Le Roux read the play as the Rebels looked to spread the ball wide and sped forward to intercept O’Connor’s attempted miss pass, scoring his second try with only 10 minutes on the clock. Goosen again converted to double the Cheetahs’ lead.
The two sides had enjoyed roughly equal possession in the opening quarter, but the Cheetahs looked much more controlled and dangerous – slick passing, strong running and great support allowed them to keep hold of the ball and frustrate the Rebels into conceding penalties at the breakdown. Goosen kicked two of his three shots at goal to stretch the lead to 20-7 after 23 minutes.
The Rebels were initially forced backwards by an on-rushing Cheetahs’ defence, and struggled to build any momentum, but a spark from O’Connor put more points on the board and gave his side the boost in confidence they needed.
From a lineout near the half-way line, the young fly half burst through a half-gap and deftly offloaded out of the tackle to the supporting Lachie Mitchell, who worked a two-on-one and gave the final pass only for the last defender Le Roux to cynically slap the ball down and prevent a certain try. He was sent to the sin-bin and O’Connor kicked a consolatory three points from in front of the posts.
The Rebels began to look more like the side that gave the Reds a scare last week in Brisbane, with Freier and captain Delve leading from the front with ball in hand. Some ill-advised kicking and unforced handling errors brought promising Rebels attacks to a premature end however, and they couldn’t capitalise on their numerical advantage before the whistle blew for half time.
The Rebels really took control of the game as the second half kicked off, earning early points from a penalty as the Cheetahs infringed after a great break from Julian Huxley. Holding the ball much better, the Rebels denied the Cheetahs a look-in for the first 10 minutes of the half, and after punching through the middle with their forwards the ball was spread quickly out to O’Connor on the left hand side, who skipped beautifully past two defenders to run in under the posts, converting his own try to level the scores and get the 11,522 crowd on their feet.
Buoyed by their young playmaker’s skilful finish, the Rebels lifted their attacking efforts once again, earning a further three shots at goal for O’Connor, who hit the post with his first long-range attempt before easily chipping over the other two in front of the posts. Goosen was able to keep his side in the hunt with two more penalties against the run of play however, bringing the score back to 26-all as the game entered the final quarter.
As the clock ticked down the visitors surged again, and the Rebels were forced into some desperate defence to hold out several rampaging Cheetahs attacks, but eventually they cracked under the pressure. Finishing the match just as they started it, the South Africans moved the ball from runner to runner across the pitch from deep in their own half, ultimately finding a gap in the tired Rebels defence and offloading to the fresh legs of replacement Piet van Zyl who dived over in the corner to break Melbourne hearts with the last play of the game.
Despite the close loss officials from Maroondah Rugby Club left AAMI Park with smiles on their faces as they pocketed $6,300 courtesy of RaboDirect as reward for their superb efforts to recruit 2012 members for the Club.
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