'Dead men walking' or real Rebels?

SPOTLIGHT: Melbourne Rebels coach Kevin Foote said his doomed Super Rugby team can do “something special” by delaying their demise with an upset quarterfinal win at the Hurricanes.

The debt-laden Rebels will cease to exist beyond this season after Rugby Australia opted last week to shut down the franchise, which went into administration in January owing almost AUS$23 million (US$15 million).

The Rebels limped into the play-offs, qualifying eighth in the regular season table following a 19-40 away loss to the Fijian Drua last Saturday.

The defeat came just a few days after the squad learnt the team was being axed.

Only a surprise victory at the table-topping Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday will extend the Rebels’ limited shelf-life.

Australian teams have a poor record in New Zealand, but Foote said the visitors have nothing to lose.

“We want to do something special,” Foote told reporters in a video call.

It’s what history is all about, sports gives us this opportunity.

“You look at all the great rugby stories and think about the story you are going to tell.”

The Rebels’ demise means Australia will only have four Super Rugby teams in 2025 – Brumbies, Reds, Western Force and Waratahs.

The Melbourne team had been scheduled to host the British and Irish Lions on their tour next year, but that is now off.

A handful of Wallabies play for the Rebels, including Carter Gordon, Taniela Tupou, Rob Leota, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and Andrew Kellaway.

Foote said it had been a challenging few days for the squad.

“It was always going to hurt, to be honest,” he said.

It doesn’t make sense for a lot of us.

“We really believed, from the coaching perspective, that if it had stayed together to build confidence in the squad, we could have gone on to make finals more of a regular occurrence.”

The South African said there was an emotional team meeting after the news broke, just before the team flew to Fiji.

“We spoke about empathy, understanding that this news means different things to different people.

“The fact is we are in the finals and want to be positive around that.”

The Blues are home to Fijian Drua, the Chiefs host the Reds and the Brumbies play the Highlanders in the other quarterfinals.