Author: Stuart Fazakerley

Huge news in the southern capital tonight, with Melbourne Rebels vice-captain, eleven-time international, all-around nice guy, the Prince of Wales, G&GR’s own Gareth Delve, turning his back on a lucrative offer from Toulon to extend his stay in Super Rugby through 2013. The Rebels have made a lot of big player announcements in their short history. From claiming Danny Cipriani as their first signing in 2010, through signing James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale in 2011, to letting Cipriani go in a sea of controversy in the middle of 2012. None, I would argue, could match the significance of the press…

ACT Brumbies legend, Melbourne Rebels pioneer, and former Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock announced this week that he will retire from rugby at the end of the 2012 Super Rugby season. This is a tribute to a player who was one of the greatest of his generation, a figure respected and admired by friend and foe alike, a man who helped me fall in love with this great game. Enough will be written about Stirling’s achievements between now and when he signs off in Cape Town on the 14th of July. Plucked from obscurity at club side Gordon to tour Argentina…

Today’s back page of the local rag, the Herald Sun, said all that needed to be said about last night’s Melbourne Test. ‘Wallabies Over Wales. WOW’. In front of 33,888 at Etihad Stadium, the Wallabies retained the James Bevan Trophy, but the Welsh won plenty of fans with their enterprising and clever play. It was the kind of game that lives in the memory not for the technical skills on display (there were errors a-go-go from both sides all through the game), not even for a career-defining performance or a single moment of brilliance (though it had both). From start to finish, it…

The Brumbies got the better of the Melbourne Rebels in a 27-19 win at AAMI Park on Friday. However, with a disallowed try to the hosts, questionable officiating, and a generally poor style of play on show from both sides, neither team will be writing home about this match as they head into the bye. A quick thanks to Brumby Jack for nobly taking the reins in the preview for this game, whilst I was on a plane home. Much appreciated, mate. The Brumbies, suddenly taking on all comers under Jake White, would have written this match down as a…

The Melbourne Rebels head to Wellington this week to take on the Hurricanes at the Cake Tin. It’s a big flight for the Rebels after Perth last round, but at a time where the boys from Melbourne are standing up and being heard in Super Rugby, it’s possibly their most significant flight yet. First, let me apologise for the lateness of this review. Your intrepid reporter is in Cape Town visiting family. I have only just found an Internet connection, and also have no idea what time it is anywhere. A month or so ago, the Melbourne Rebels had just…

If their game against the Bulls last Friday was the Victorians’ first signal of intent in their short Super Rugby history, then tonight, they bought a ticket, caught the early train, and punched the ticket inspector in the face for good measure. This is not a drill. With a 28-19 win against the seven-time champion Crusaders, the Melbourne Rebels have arrived. I mentioned in my preview for this game that I was concerned as to how the Rebels would back up from their strong performance against the technicolour Bulls. Their short history has been scattered with false dawns – good performances showing…

The last time Sir Richard Hugh McCaw KNZM and Stirling Austin Mortlock AM met was in 2009, on a February night at Canberra Stadium, when the Crusaders travelled to take on the Brumbies. Since then (the Brumbies won 18-16), the two followed similar paths, building on the unquestioned legacies they have had on this sport in their countries. Those paths cross again in Melbourne on Saturday night. Stirling, of course, would move on from the Brumbies, using his unmistakable leadership skills and natural charisma on and off the field to put the Melbourne Rebels on the rugby map. Richie, as…

The Melbourne Rebels, decimated through injury and player departures, played their best eighty minutes yet in a brilliant attacking display against the unbackable Bulls at AAMI Park on Friday. While the Morne Steyn-led Bulls were too good in the end, claiming the win by six points, the ovation awarded to the home side by the 12,112 fans after the game, on a putridly cold night, said it all. This could be the start of something special. This game was supposed to be different. The Rebels went into this game without five of their ideal starting XV, with Laurie Weeks, Jarrod Saffy,…

It just doesn’t get any easier for the twelfth-placed Melbourne Rebels. After a interstate road trip marked with two disappointing performances, and a bye week plagued with controversy following Danny Cipriani’s premature exit, they front up on Friday to face the thrice-champion, fourth-placed Bulls. Ouch. Indeed, AAMI Park has been a happy hunting ground for touring Republicans. The home side are yet to claim a home win against a South African team, losses to the Sharks and Stormers last year preceded their fall to the Cheetahs earlier this season. They faced Friday’s opponent in their first Republic road trip last year,…

The Melbourne Rebels exorcised their second-half demons to grind out the most significant win of their short history, confirming the Blues as also-rans for 2012 with a 34-23 win at AAMI Park on Thursday. This was a crucial game for both sides, wallowing in the bottom of the table after failing to live up to the hype that had been bestowed on them earlier in the year. The Rebels needed to play a consistent 80 minutes, having resembled witches’ hats in recent second halves, especially in their preceding match against the Highlanders. For the Blues, they needed their forward pack…

The last-placed Auckland Blues travel to Melbourne to take on the second last-placed Rebels, in a Thursday night battle for Super survival. For these teams, 2012 was meant to be so, so different. Oddly enough, it’s ended up almost exactly the same. After an impressive pre-season, the Blues were touted as a big improver, and having recruited All Blacks Ma’a Nonu and Piri Weepu to join their bulging list of representatives — Mealamu, Woodcock, Kaino, Boric and Toeava. They deserved to be considered as such. Flash forward a few months, and it’s not hard to see where it all went…

The Melbourne Rebels make one of the hardest roadtrips in Super Rugby this week, travelling to play the Highlanders in Invercargill, in search of the club’s first ever win past border security. Indeed, they’ll never be gifted a better opportunity to get the four points stamped on their passports, taking on a weakened Highlanders outfit in their first match minus their pivot, the unluckiest bloke in world rugby, Colin Slade. The hosts are also playing away from their main home ground, the greenhouse at Forsyth-Barr Stadium quickly becoming a fortress for the Otagans. Combined with the surprise loss to the…

A vintage Mark Gerrard, a greatly improved Julian Huxley, and a dancing Danny Cipriani guided the undermanned Melbourne Rebels to their first four-pointer of the season, holding off the fast-finishing Western Force by the tightest of margins in a thrilling 30-29 win at AAMI Park.

All week, I’m been trying to imagine how the Western Force, who line up against their former colleague in James O’Connor for the first time on Friday, would be handling the situation. Would they be inspired? Insipid? Indifferent? What effect would this eagerly-awaited reunion have on the visitors to AAMI Park? Eventually, I settled on the image of the Force crossing the Nullabor singing ‘Kill the wabbit!’ to the tune of La Traviata, Elmer Fudd-style. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxiv3CBMS4M[/youtube] In truth, though, there’s very little to trouble the Sandgropers as they head to Melbourne, having upset the Waratahs (and, as a consequence,  sent…

The hearts of 11,522 Rebels fans were profoundly broken when an impressive and consistent Cheetahs side claimed a last-gasp 33-26 victory on Sunday at AAMI Park. The Rebels were heading towards an unlikely split of the championship points, having fought their way back in the second half, but a blistering try after the siren by reserve half-back Piet van Zyl ensured that luck would, finally, be on the Cheetahs’ side. The game kicked off amongst furious sunshine and, of course, the faint sounds of burning ethanol. Indeed, after two minutes, many in the crowd were left wondering if they made…

Being an ardent Melbourne Rebels fan, my view is thankfully clouded to most of the ills of the cold, dark world. However, to the uninitiated, I would imagine that the Victorians would be quite the frustrating team to follow.

After the much-vaunted festival of hate against the Reds resulted in a last-minute loss, you could forgive the Waratahs for being far too tired and emotional to contest this week’s Dunlop Shield match against their younger, better-looking cross-town rivals. (Sorry, Queensland, Beau Robinson is an instant DQ for you blokes in the pageant stakes. But I digress…) This week will mark the beginning of a much bigger battle for the Melbourne side, the reigning wooden-spooners needing to convince a sporting public that, at the very least, progress on the field has been made from last year, hopefully, matching the long…