In the battle of the Australian conference wooden spoon the Rebels have heaped more misery upon the hapless Reds with a 30 – 27 victory at Suncorp Stadium. The game was marked by plenty of injuries and a late red card to Ed O’Donoghue.
The Match
The Rebels got off to a poor start, with Scott Higginbotham yellow carded in the first minute for an elbow to the nose of Mike Harris. The Reds capitalised shortly afterwards with a long Cooper pass to Harris, who stepped inside the stretched Rebels defence to score. The leadup included a long maul down into the Rebels’ red zone from the Reds. Quade Cooper duly converted, leaving the Reds up 7 – 0 after just 4 minutes.
Ben Daley gave away a penalty at the breakdown, and Jason Woodward converted to bring the score back to 7 – 3 after 7 minutes.
Disaster soon struck for the Reds, with Quade Cooper forced off with a grade 3 ACL in just the 9th minute. He was joined on the sideline by Ben Daley who had a broken thumb. They were replaced by Ben Lucas and Jono Owen, respectively.
The Rebels started to become dominant, including at scrum time where they had the Reds under pressure all night.
Soon afterwards, Cadeyrn Neville forced a turnover from a poor Ben Lucas decision and the Rebels marched down the field with some superb play. The Reds defence looked in tatters as the Rebels broke tackles and offloaded at will. The ball went wide to Jason Woodward, who popped off the ground to Kingston to stroll over. Woodward converted, allowing the Rebels to hit the front 10 – 7 after 17 minutes.
The Rebels now looked in control, dominating the breakdown and scrum. The Reds lineout was also wobbling, with James Hanson throwing a few crooked throws.
The Reds soon struck back to level the game thanks to a Mike Harris penalty after a Ben Lucas break. The Rebels were a touch unlucky, with Tamati Ellison looking to have been on his feet.
The game was waiting for the Rebels to take it by the scruff of the neck, and it was Luke Burgess who stood up. Burgess sniped off a Rebels ruck, scooting past James Hanson and beating another four Reds defenders to dot down next to the posts. Jason Woodward converted to put the Rebels back in front 17 – 10 after half an hour.
Hanson paid for his lacklustre outing, replaced by Saia Faingaa after 33 minutes.
With the first half coming to a close, the Reds looked all at sea until Ant Faingaa earnt a holding penalty against Luke Jones, which put the Reds deep into Rebels territory. Greg Holmes and Luke Jones showed there was no loved lost between the teams with a brief scuffle. Off the ensuing scrum, Ben Tapuai was dragged down a metre short of the line after a switch play with Ben Lucas that broke the Rebels defence wide open. Greg Holmes dived over under the posts from one metre out just a few rucks later, tieing up the game again at the stroke of half time.
Despite the 17 all score at half time, the Rebels looked to have the better of the first half, with Bryce Hegarty steering them around the park and Colby Faingaa busy in attack and defence.
Whatever Richard Graham is saying to the Reds at half time seems to not be working as Luke Burgess scored his double in the 42nd minute. The try was again set up by clever offloading from the Rebels, with Mitch Inman offloading to Bryce Hegarty, who found Toby Smith in support before the final pass to Burgess. The Reds were all at sea again shortly after half time, with the Rebels regaining the lead 24 – 17.
The Reds soon enjoyed a rare period of dominance. The Rebels gave away a couple of penalties to piggy back the Reds into their Red zone. Reds captain James Horwill turned down a number of kickable penalties as the Reds set up camp in the Rebels 22. James Horwill had a chance to level the scores after getting over the line from close range, but desperate defence from Pat Leafa and Colby Faingaa forced Horwill to lose the ball over the line.
Normal play resumed, with the Rebels marching down the field again and the Reds unable to control the Rebels offloading game. Only a loose Luke Burgess pass relieved the pressure off the Reds.
The Reds were in need of a big play, and it was JJ Tuilagi who stepped up. Tuilagi put in a huge hit on the hapless Tom Kingston off a Will Genia box kick, and earnt a penalty by staying on his feet at the ruck. The Reds were now hot on attack, and Will Genia stepped up to marshall the Reds attack and finally put Ben Lucas over under the posts after sustained pressure. With 12 minutes to play the scores were locked up yet again at 24 all.
Burgess soon joined the injury list which by now included Tamati Ellison and Greg Holmes.
The Rebels and Reds exchanged penalties and it seemed like the game was heading towards a draw until Ed O’Donoghue turned villain.
With under two minutes remaining, O’Donogue and Higginbotham got involved in a scuffle. McMahon was initially penalised by Steve Walsh for getting involved, until the TMO noticed that O’Donogue appeated to put his fingers into Higginbotham’s eyes on the ground. On review, O’Donogue was justifiably red carded and Woodward stepped up to kick the winning penalty from in front.
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The Game Changer
In a game that saw frequently saw the Rebels get ahead only for the Reds to tie, one clear incident stands out: Ed O’Donoghue’s brain explosion in the 78th minute that saw the Woodward kick the match winning penalty.
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The G&GR MOTM
The G&GR MotM goes to Bryce Hegarty steered the Rebels around the park admirably.
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Wallaby watch
Most of the usual Wallaby contenders were outplayed by a few of the ‘lesser’ names.
For the Rebels, Luke Burgess scored an impressive double, but also made his share of errors, and Colby Faingaa was very busy in attack and defence.
For the Reds, the young Curtis Browning had a noticeable impact, and Will Genia’s control of the Reds attack stepped up a gear after the loss of Cooper, but his sniping was absent and pass a little high at times.
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The Details
Crowd:
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]The Reds: 27
Tries: Harris, Holmes, Lucas
Conversions: Cooper (1/1) Harris (2/2)
Penalties: Harris (2/2)[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]The Rebels: 30
Tries: Kingston, Burgess (2)
Conversions: Woodward (3/3)
Penalties: Woodward (2/3)[/one_half]
Cards & citings
Scott Higginbotham – Yellow card (elbow to Mike Harris’ head) 1′
Ed O’Donoghue – Red card (hand in Scott Higginbotham’s face on the ground) 78′
