The Melbourne Rebels have again journeyed west and got the chocolates against the Force.
The Match
In the early going it was mostly an arm wrestle, played between each team’s 22. There was a liberal use of the boot from the halves on both teams, but it was the Rebels who got on the board first. They moved the ball wide, with big Hugh Pyle ranging up on the outside and hitting a hole in the Force defence.I thought it was a bad miss on the part of Sias Ebersohn, as it was a fairly large gap he left, with Pyle only having to run to the line from then on.
Not long afterwards the Rebels scored again, through some good fortune. In truth, it was thanks to a well-placed kick that caught Will Toupu out of position and in the end wrong-footed him. A good chase from man of the match Jason Woodward allowed the Rebels to seize on their luck and go in near the posts. At this point, things were look great for the visitors and fairly ominous for the Force.
They’re nothing if not scrappers, however, the locals. Some solid lead-up play and a couple of good line breaks almost led to points, but eventually Winston Stanley went over in the corner to provide some hope. Things got better again with the Force camped down in the Rebels’ 22 for a prolonged period just before half time. After having a crack from a couple of penalties (where they took a scrum option), they elected to take the points. At half time I thought the Force had momentum and were looking likely to score again. They were certainly close enough if good enough.
The margin opened up again early in the second half with a well-executed try to Richard Kingi. After a few phases of pick-and-drive and sucking in the Force defenders, Phipps spread the ball wide to O’Connor. JOC then drifted wider still on the diagonal and did what we know he can do at will: threw a great short ball. Kingi ran a great line from the fullback position and O’Connor hit him with a fabulous pass. It was by far the play of the game. Inexplicably, O’Connor missed the conversion.
The Force hit back with Will Toupu following up smartly at a ruck right near the posts and it was game-on again. They scored again quickly, with Stanley putting through a great grubber-kick in behind the Rebels’ defensive line for Pat Dellit to gather and score. The scores were level and it was anyone’s game.
What was required for one of the teams to keep their composure and play it outside of their half. In the end the sealer came from a pretty scrappy passage of play where a backline move went wrong and Jason Woodward again had the presence of mind to gather, step and kick ahead. He clearly saw that the Force had nobody home at the back and gathered his own kick to score. After that, the game got pretty unstructured and though the Force had plenty of the pill in the last few minutes, they just couldn’t create anything. The Rebels’ defence hung in there and they got home.
Whilst the visitors had some good fortune tonight they made their own luck too. You have to be in the right spot to cash in on the fickle bounce of the ball and they did that a couple of times. Their defence was also a lot more sound than the Force, who appear to have gone backwards in that part of the game this season.
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The Game Changer
For me it was Hugh McMeniman leaving the field. You could see an almost instant drop in quality at the set piece when he wasn’t there and a lack of go-forward. Often you don’t notice the work of a tight forward until they aren’t there and tonight was one of those nights. Kingi’s try also seemed to knock the stuffing out of the locals too. They were always chasing the game after that, with less than a quarter of the game to go.
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The G&GR MotM
There weren’t a lot of stand-out players on the paddock, but Jason Woodward had a great winger’s game and was rewarded for his work rate.
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Wallaby watch
McMeniman is again my Wallaby watch, but for the wrong reasons this week. I hope that shoulder is OK, because I think he’s a massive chance to play Test footy again this year.
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The Details
Rebels: 30 (Woodward (2), Kingi, Pyle tries; O’Connor 2 cons; O’Connor 2 pens) defeated Western Force: 23 (Toupu, Dellit, Stanley tries; Godwin conv; Ebersohn 2 pen)
Yellow cards: None
Refereee: Mike Fraser
