When considering:
- Reds playing on 'spiritual home of Queensland rugby'
- Reds seasoned Wallaby players on field to Rebels Wallaby players on field: the numerical ratio. Both teams at full strength and two coaches that have to prove themselves in 2014
- Rebels virtually a team of 'no-names' with a bad S15 record and never having beaten the Reds before, anywhere, anytime
Rebels won tonight convincingly.
Given these operative parameters and outcomes, I think it's a reasonable proposition to argue the Rebels played very well and, in part, as they did for long periods of play, they made the Reds play badly and look bad, it was not a case at all of Reds spontaneous gifts through endless incompetence given to waiting, grateful mediocrities.
Bullshit. It is not even remotely close to being a reasonable proposition.
Those bits of the game where the little man in the red shirt threw the ball in between all the bigger cuddling men were from when the Rebels dropped the pill. They occurred often.
Those bits of the game where the little man in the blue threw the ball in between the bigger cuddling men were from when the reds dropped the pill. They occurred often.
Almost none of those drops were from pressure or anything else other than poorly thrown passes and inability to catch a ball.
The rucks were a disgrace from both sides - I don't think any of them knew how to stay on their feet, or on their own side.
Quade's passes were forwards or to no one - and it happened very often.
There is no escaping the fact that there was an enormous amount of ball given over to the rebels who had to do nothing whatsoever to earn the ball off the reds.
It was a blight on the good name of rugby that it was played in such a manner.
A team that played well would have smashed the reds by 92-3. The rebels were clearly superior, but only by comparison to the utter dross that was dished up by the reds.
More specifically to your "points":
The ground that they play on is the same piece of dirt for both teams. Every team will eventually win on "hallowed turf".
Wallabies are not guaranteed to play well all of the time, and even whole groups if them can suck the big nut sometimes.
There's always a first time, and the rebels were always going to beat the reds some day - it had to happen at some stage. They are not a bad side as a general rule.
Just because the rebels won convincingly (which they clearly did) does NOT necessarily mean they played well. Teams can play poorly and win, they just play less poorly than the losers on the night.
If you enjoyed that "spectacle" tonight, then I am truly glad for you. I personally thought it was extremely error ridden and played poorly by both teams compared to what both teams are capable of, even for a trial match.
The rebels could take some (few) positives out of the match in some respects - I will concede that. But I doubt that their coaching staff and team were entirely pleased with how they went. They will need to work on a lot of stuff.
The reds will have to work on a lot more.