Rebels 2012

[HKTiger]

+1
Without having seen the game myself, and without knowing the arrangement or the finer details, if the reports are correct it seems a bit rough to have such obvious and public displays of frustration by a mentor. I would expect a junior ref to get a few things wrong (a million things to remember in the heat of battle with every eye in the stadium on you is not easy) but I hope Walsh at least provided a decent debrief away from the public gaze.

Not keen on huffing and puffing. Poor form, Steve.

To be fair to Steve, it wasn't that obvious. I was watching it as a ref and watching the interaction and noticing the discord. And to be fairer the final knock on was so blatant (could well have been called for a deliberate knock down) and the ref just got it so wrong. The crowd was loudly incredulous and in my eyes Steve just went "what the fuck". More telling was that he refused to follow the Chiefs chip and chase and just made it blunt that Angus had to award the knock on. I'm guessing that Angus had ignored/avoided/misheard a few corrections/assistant ref calls to that time and Steve just said "that's enough".

 

[Kevinsons]

They announced the ref before the game but as I was still queueing via the 'one ticket at time, select, print and process appraoch" I missed his name. A fairly slight mousy blond guy who looked young and out of his depth. The tall dark haired assistant ref/touchie was trying to correct his calls all night. Ref and touchie were not happy with one another.

Steve Walsh was one of the touchies ( the tall one with the long hair that pranced down the side lines instead of running) and it looked to me like he was grading the ref, because he was taking notes on the refs calls.

 

[jauzy19]

Gareth Delve will join french club Toulon after the Super Rugby.

 

[Army_Gav]

Gareth Delve will join french club Toulon after the Super Rugby.

Got a source? Otherwise, I heard this a month ago.

 

[fatprop]

Got a source? Otherwise, I heard this a month ago.

http://www.laprovence.com/actu/region-en-direct/rugby-info-la-provence-delve-a-signe-au-rct

 

[Army_Gav]

http://www.laprovence.com/actu/region-en-direct/rugby-info-la-provence-delve-a-signe-au-rct

Same mob reported that back in Jan.

 

[barbarian]

So... good for you?

Not sure what point you are trying to make Gav. Jauzy is usually spot on with his intel.

 

[Gnostic]

Delve will be missed at the Rebs I suspect. A very consistant performer last year and appeared to provide real leadership to a sometimes rudderless ship. I hope that he displays the same form this year and gets considered for Wales, though looking at recent performances from the Welsh I don't think he would be able to force his way into the starting 15.

 

[Army_Gav]

So... good for you?

Not sure what point you are trying to make Gav. Jauzy is usually spot on with his intel.

Unless there's multiple sources confirming it, I take everything with a grain of salt.

 

[FiveStarStu]

I'm expecting Gaz to go back at the end of the year, but I'd be surprised if he went to the Top 14.

Last I heard, if he was going to return to Europe, he was looking to go back to the Premiership or the Rabo12, would serve his purposes a lot better.

My source is pretty good.

 

[p.Tah]

Sounds the Rebells had a good hit out

AAP

Danny Cipriani showed all his star power with a stand-out performance for the Melbourne Rebels in their Super Rugby trial against the Blues.

The Rebels led until the 65th minute when they were overrun by the Blues, losing 31-21, but they delivered a much improved showing on their opening trial defeat last weekend.

Playing in a backline that includes two of the world's best players in James O'Connor and Kurtley Beale, Englishman Cipriani played the opening 50 minutes of the AAMI Park match and was one of his team's best in attack while he also pulled off a try-saving tackle in the first half.

Melbourne started with a flourish and O'Connor had his first ever points in Rebels colours with a successful penalty strike in the second minute.

A Cipriani break down the left flank then set up their first try, scored by bustling winger Cooper Vuna.

The former England representative then chipped cross-field for the other Rebels winger Mark Gerrard to score and the home side was up 15-0 before the clock had ticked over to five minutes.

Blues winger Serwin Stowers ran on to a kick by Rene Ranger to open the scoring for his side, but Melbourne dominated the opening half to lead 18-7 at the break.

Their defence lifted after their 36-0 loss in their opening trial against the Chiefs while their scrum and line-out held its own against the All Black-laden Aucklanders.

Both sides made a raft of changes for the second half, with only a handful of the first team Rebels remaining.

The lack of combinations in the second 15 was notable, as more handling errors and defensive lapses crept into the game.

All Blacks fullback Isaia Toeava crossed before hooker Tom McCartney gave his team the lead as he steam-rolled Rebels halfback Richard Kingi.

Toeava then crossed again with the conversion opening up the 10-point lead.[\quote]

 

[FiveStarStu]

Sounds the Rebells had a good hit out

Ooh boy, did they what.

I'll write something up for it tomorrow, but basically Damien Hill played two squads, probables and possibles. The squad in the first half, the probables, were insane. Danny Cipriani's kicks in open play were sublime, Beale and Gerrard were combining very well, and Cooper Vuna has 'breakout year' written all over him. It was the first time I've seen a Rebels team legitimately outplay an opposition for 40 minutes straight.

The second half brought on the possibles, who weren't as well drilled as their counterparts, it seemed. Understandable as a lot of them were just kids, but it does raise an interesting question about the club's depth. Regardless, it allowed the Blues to chip away at the lead and eventually get up.

Result aside, I'm very happy with how it went. Hopefully we settle on a XV for the Crusaders match, because that will give us the best indicator on how this team will perform week in week out.

 

[qwerty51]

Sorry might've been posted before but do you have a teamlist for both sides Stu?

 

[FiveStarStu]

Sorry might've been posted before but do you have a teamlist for both sides Stu?

It's somewhere, I'll look for it and put it up tomorrow.

 

[Godfrey]

That's excellent news about the first half team! I'm sensing a stronger overall Aussie conference this year.

 

[FiveStarStu]

Match report here - http://www.rebel-army.com/archives/2318

Team lists:

First half
1. Henderson
2. Robinson
3. Weeks
4. Byrnes
5. Pyle
6. Jones
7. Chamberlain
8. Delve
9. Phipps
10. Cipriani
11. Vuna
12. O'Connor
13. Inman
14. Gerrard
15. Beale

SUB
16. Alo Emile
17. Ford
18. Freier
19. Henderson
20. Hilgendorf

Second half
1. Aholelei
2. Holmes
3. Blake
4. Campbell
5. King
6. Jones
7. Beauchamp
8. Davidson
9. Kingi
10. Cipriani
11. Vuna
12. Mitchell
13. Johansson
14. Gerrard
15. Huxley

SUB
16. Mosese
17. Neville
18. Phipps
19. Tapaui
20. Tessmann

 

[qwerty51]

Is Saffy injured?

 

[James Buchanan]

Pretty sure that the first half team (as announced) was:

1. Henderson, 2. Robinson, 3. Weeks, 4. Byrnes, 5. Pyle, 6. Chamberlain, 7. Lipman, 8. Delve, 9. Phipps, 10. Cipriani, 11. Vuna, 12. O'Connor, 13. Inman, 14. Gerrard, 15. Beale.

That being said, I didn't notice Chamberlain playing first half (and he's pretty noticeable). I suspect instead that it was Jake King playing 6 first half as he was running around with the number 6 on his back in the second half.

Pretty much the entire team was replaced in the second half. Cipriani and Vuna stayed on briefly. Chamberlain came on for about 20 minutes.

A few observations:

1st half Rebels pack was good in loose play but fairly soundly beaten at the set piece. Lineout was messy (although that was more the delivery from the fowards to Phipps) and mauls were again a weakness of team. Defensive line was better and there was a lot of flair in attack. For mine, KB (Kurtley Beale) was the lynchpin of much of the attacking plays, linking well with Cipriani and Vuna to score the first try and looking dangerous all half, particularly when working with JOC (James O'Connor). They were playing him as the alternative 5/8th, and he did a great job in creating space for the players around him. Cipriani's kicking from hand was admittedly good, although the second try that amounted from it was very lucky. His passing game was not as impressive to my mind.

Second half team seemed to play with more intensity but less structure. Defensive line was not as good and there was a lack of genuine speed out wide which the blues exploited, with most of their tries coming from a 'throw it wide' attitude. I didn't realise how big a lad Aholetai was, he's huge. Further, Luke Jones has added a fair bit of beef over the off season.

Walking away from the game, I was pretty happy with the outcome. The second half had the feel of 1st grade playing colts so I wouldn't take the overall score too seriously. The first half showed a bunch more structure, organisation and discipline and I think it surprised the blues somewhat.

 

[daz]

I'm not going to go too deep here, partly because others know the Rebels setup better than me, but mostly because it was a trial game which bears almost no relativity with the season proper.

What I will say is that Vuna was superb last night. Cipriani also had a cracker, and JOC (James O'Connor) and Beale looked pretty sharp. In fact, as mentioned previously, the first 40 minutes was really good to watch. I was on the fence line at the half way mark and got a very good view of the game, including all the chat on the field.

Danny and Vuna tackled everything that came their way. I said to my wife that after the second tackle Danny had just beat his tackle count PB. Tongue in cheek to be sure, but it was good to see.

Cooper Vuna is a scary talent. But he has always appeared to me to be like the kid at school who didn't have to study hard because he had all this natural ability and always topped the class. Then one day he hit the ceiling of natural talent and other kids with less talent who had learned how to study hard in the years previously started passing him by. Then he had a decision to make; either learn how to study and apply some hard work to get back in front, or just cruise because it all seems a bit hard.

How I hope Cooper V has decided to learn how to work hard this year.


PS: Crowd of 6,000 which I guess was pretty good, but did the Rebel Army have a scheduled day off last night? I think there were 3 members plus a drummer. What gives, Gav?

 

[Sir Arthur Higgins]

cautiously optimistic after this.... Cautiously because we put in a good effort against the crusaders last year in the pre-season....

delve probably gone - just a fact. if its reported twice, there's probably a reason. neither here nor there though as we've got a full season ahead of us with him in it.