Will the Rebel set piece dominate? Will the home town support bring the Force home? Will the Rebels step up to be a finals threat? Will the Force run it from everywhere? Is Lance and Godwin the answer? Will Hanson set himself up as the next Aussie hooker?
The Match
Conditions were brutal, hot and humid. This made for handling mistakes in the first half and multiple players cramping in the last 20. The Rebels have won by 6. The last 20 minutes wasn’t pretty but they won.
Rebels 25 – Force 16
First Half
The first half was notable for the attrition rates in the Rebels backs. Debreczeni went down in the warm-up, so Harris went to 10 and Hodge went to 15. Then after 20 minutes Harris went down so Hodge came to 10 and Placid to 15. Hawkins also came on (blood?) so the Rebels lost another somewhere. Hodge had a brilliant first half so it didn’t hurt the Rebels chances too much.
Scoring started with a Lance penalty and Hodge replied. Another Lance penalty made it 6-3 and then Ellison, who up till then had had a forgettable game, kept the ball in hand, made a good break and off-loaded to Hodge to score and convert. 10-6. Lance replied almost immediately with a good try of his own, duly converted and the Force were back in front 13-10. So far it had been the Lance and Hodge show – these two scoring all 23 points so far. Thompson broke the trend with a nice try in the corner, great Hodge conversion made it 17-13 Rebels at half time.
The Force had tried to play open rugby and had looked good on occasions but poor handling and ruck turnovers had let them down.
Second Half
The Force started the second half well and a Lance penalty for McMahon being offside brought it back to 17-16. Then Godwin got injured and was replaced by Grant. It wasn’t a successful replacement overall.
The Rebels got inside the 22, the Force were offside in front and Hodge made it 20-16, restoring the half time margin. Lance kicked a scrum penalty to make it 20-19 but Ellison, who looks to be a much better player when running at defenders, then made the try-break of the game and off-loaded to Hodge, who scored but couldn’t convert.
After this the Force v Rebels match got really ugly with multiple players cramping up and the quality of play deteriorated dramatically. Dropped ball, turnovers and missed tackles were in the ascendancy. The Rebels managed to run down the clock for the win and a trip to SA for their troubles.
The Wrap Up
For the Force this was not the win they were looking for but for the first 60 minutes they did look to have the potential to change their gameplan for the better and deliver better rugby for the west. Lance was great at 10 and the contrast when Grant came on and Lance went to 12 was stark. Hopefully Godwin’s injury recovers and the combination with Lance can bed down over the coming weeks. Haylett-Petty was a standout, Brache’s handling let him down and Morahan was invisible. Tapuai was inconsistent, but probably worth persisting with.
The forwards were reasonable, Cottrell made a lot of runs but Coleman grassed too much ball when hot on attack. The scrum was beaten but not annihilated and the lineout was OK. Handling and turnovers killed their chances.
For the Rebels, Hodge had a blinder. Slated to start on the wing, he moved to fullback when Debreczeni pulled out and then found himself at 10 when Harris went off. The key playmaking role on his debut and he looked very accomplished. Ellison was having a game to forget when he made two tries with linebreaks and redeemed himself. Meehan, who replaced Stirzacker, looked very impressive and played the whole 90 in his run-on debut.
The Rebels scrum and lineout was ascendant without annihilating their opposition. Reid made some huge hits, justifying his selection, and McMahon was inconsistent. Thompson played intelligently and took his try well. Hanson did some really nice things in his Rebels debut. The Rebels are off to SA with four points in the bag.
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The Game Changer
The Ellison-Hodge second try was beautifully worked, pushed the Rebels ahead and they never looked back.
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The G&GR MOTM
Has to be Hodge. Twenty points on debut and he looked calm and assured in both positions. He has got a huge boot that will be very valuable on the high veldt. Reid, Meehan and Grant were also excellent.
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Wallaby Watch
Not a game for standouts except those already mentioned. Dane Haylett-Petty certainly put his name forward but others in the squad, or close to it will not want to nominate this game, except maybe Hanson.
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The Details
Score & Scorers
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Rebels – 25
Tries: Reece Hodge (2), Adam Thompson
Conversions: Reece Hodge (2)
Penalties: Reece Hodge (2)
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Force – 19
Try: Jono Lance
Conversion: Jono Lance
Penalties: Jono Lance (4)
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Cards & Citings
Yellow cards: None
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Crowd
tba
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Featured image by “Delphy” – thank you
