In an historic night for rugby in Melbourne, the Rebels have pulled off a shock by defeating the Brumbies 25-24.
Rebels flyhalf Danny Cipriani was outstanding in the win and led his team around the field with an inspired performance. It was the second time this week he stole something, but this time for all the right reasons in the form of a win for his team with a penalty goal with only seconds remaining.
The Rebels, who were coming off a 43-0 hiding in their opening game, looked like a new team this week and played with passion, something that was lacking last week. Whatever coach Rod Macqueen spoke about at training this week obviously worked, as did some of the new combinations – particularly the ‘Phippriani’ in the halves.
After getting off to a 3-0 lead after 10 minutes, the Brumbies looked like they were playing in a way that just turning up would be enough for them to secure the 4 points. Unfortunately for them, the Rebels showed great urgency in defence and despite being on the back foot many times, managed to hold them out. A look at the stats after the match only confirms how well they defended as the Brumbies had 3 times as many rucks and mauls.
On 15 minutes, Cipriani was the first man to be entered into the scoring records for the Rebels in Super rugby when he landed his first of 6 penalty goals for the night. He and Giteau traded penalty goals until pressure from the Brumbies saw Pat McCabe go over in the corner just before half time .
In the second half the visitors were guilty of wasting overlap chances and this made for frustrating viewing for the travelling fans in the wonderful AAMI Park seats. At least 3 opportunities were bombed by players not drawing the man and putting the unmarked player away. For whatever reason, it always seemed to be the wrong players in the wrong position in these instances.
The Rebels knew they were a chance and started to play like a certain team about 14 years ago. They started to gain some confidence and slowly ground down the Brumbies. The Brumbies attack ground to a halt and it lead to Matt Giteau taking things into his own hands and landed a drop goal after the attacking options dried up.
It was somewhat ironic that Stirling Mortlock scored the inaugural try for the Rebels with only 8 minutes to go and the noise created by the home fans was deafening. He looked determined to not only right the wrongs of last week, but also show his ex employers that there was still life in the old warhorse. Also outstanding for the home team was Mark Gerrard whose general kicking was first class and even his outrageous 55m drop goal attempt late in the game wasn’t far off.
What was less exciting was the performance from the man in the middle and this affected both teams. The night was littered with inconsistent calls and the last 5 minutes were some of the strangest decisions ever. A blatant forward pass from Adam Ashley-Cooper led to a Henry Speight try for the Brumbies and if that was going to deny the Rebels a maiden win, I would have felt gutted for all their fans.
And just like in those old demtel ads with the free steak knives, but wait..there’s more! As the Brumbies tried to wind down the clock towards a victory with a scrum, a minor altercation involving handbags led to a penalty to the Rebels and up stepped Cipriani to etch the Rebels into the history books.
News after the match was that Mitchell Chapman was cited for an incident involving Danny Cipriani in the second half. After facing a SANZAR judiciary, Chapman was found guilty and will have a rest for one week.
Finally, a big thank you to Paul, Trav and the guys and girls of the Rebels Army for making opposition fans welcome in Melbourne. They truly are a passionate bunch of fans that certainly know their rugby in a city dominated by another sport and are embracing it after such a long wait. If you’re down there for a match, stop in and have a chat.
Melbourne Rebels 25 – Mortlock try; Cipriani 6 pens, con def Brumbies 24 – McCabe, Speight tries, Giteau 3 pens, con, drop goal.
Wallaby Watch:
Put his hand up: Stephen Moore – I can’t fault his game at the moment and should be the Wallabies #2 for the World Cup on current form. Honorable mention for Matt Giteau – his kicking game was excellent, despite hitting the upright with his last kick of the night. Tried his best to kick start the backline.
Did himself no favours: Ben Alexander – Not his best game.
Bolter watch: Pat McCabe – Handled the high balls well and put his body on the line when it mattered (watch the Lipman tackle on 20 mins) and capped of his game with a try.
