Superboot Mike Harris got the game underway, and from the kick-off the intensity from the Reds was high. They were pushing up hard and managed to charge down more than a couple of clearing kicks as they looked to setup camp in the Rebels quarter.
9 minutes in with Weeksy playing against his old team mate the Rebels pulled off a tighthead. Showing it wasn’t all a fluke, they then won the lineout against the throw from the resulting clearance kick. Looking to turn the newfound dominance into points, JOC took the kick from the first penalty in Reds territory. From 14 metres from the sideline, about 45 metres out, he nailed it.
15 minutes on, after the Reds had worked their way back into Rebels territory, Mike Harris got a chance to extend his record. From a similar location to JOC’s kick Mike showed that he is human and he missed the penalty. Admittedly he hit the post, but a miss is a miss.
Twenty four minutes in and the Rebels had all the possession and @ruckinggoodstats advising that the Reds were averaging a missed tackle every 55 seconds in contestable defence compared to the Rebels every 248 seconds. Even the Red attack was spluttering. It was doing the Rebels confidence wonders.
The lack of discipline and seemingly inaccurate tackling led to an eventual penalty to the Rebels, being right in front, JOC hit it over to give the Rebels another three, and another deposit in belief.
The penalty did serve to wake the Reds up a little and they worked immediately back down the other end of the field, after earning a scrum penalty, Mike Harris returned service to normal and slotted the Penalty making it 3-6 in the 37th minute. That score stood till half time.
At halftime, the rabble that was the Reds showed signs of improving, Ruckin Good Stats (@ruckingoodstats) posted figures showing:
• The Reds were conceding a penalty every 3:20 mins when ball is in play to the Rebels 4:10 mins.
• The Reds were averaging a lost possession/turnover every 57 secs in possession to the Rebels 101 secs.
• The Reds were averaging a handling error (as determined by ref) every 1:06 mins to the Rebels 2:31 mins, and
• The Reds were averaging a missed tackle every 60 seconds in contestable defence to the Rebels 79 seconds.
As the teams took to the field, it was time to see who had the most vitamin rich oranges in the sheds.
The intensity looked to have gotten back up, 3 minutes into the second half and the Reds were pinged for not using the gate in a ruck. From 45 metres out JOC looked to add the goal, unfortunately he thought it was a soccer goal, such was the height he put on the kick.
With half an hour to go Link went to the bench, amongst the changes the much talked about Beau and Gill show was getting a run in an effort to turn things around.
The changes seem to do the job, immediately the Reds were down in the Rebels territory and nearly in, with Morahan’s boot just going into touch before he grounded it. From the resulting lineout, Van showed he still had it and stole the line out. Quick hands saw it across the field and Dom Shipperley went in breach (Feet first) for a try. The score at 55 minutes was 8-6
From then it was all the Reds in attack, but Muggo had stiffened the Rebels defence and they struggled to break the line. After another penalty was conceded by the Rebels, Mike Harris got a confidence boosting kick from near in front, putting his percentage back up to 50% for the game.
The arm wrestle continued, but neither team looked like yielding. The teams worked their way back and forth, both looking for that special play to secure the win, The Rebels earned a penalty and elected to go for the lineout, JOC reasoning it was now or never. The lineout was lost and Beau collected the ball and kicked, from the field position the Reds earned a penalty, Mike Harris took the shot, but from 50 odd metres from the goal it was outside his range, eventually the clock had the final say. All in all, the Reds will have plenty to think about on the plane to Africa.
The Captain James Horwill took out Man of the Match.
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