Rebels shock Crusaders in Melbourne
The Rebels produced the upset of the season when they beat the seven-time champion Crusaders in their first Super Rugby encounter, beating them 28-19 in Melbourne on Saturday.
Although these teams had met in pre-season encounters, they had not met before in a regular season match and the Rebels showed they deserve to be on the Super Rugby stage with an inspired performance.
The Rebels’ scrum was in trouble from the opening exchanges, with Wyatt Crockett easily accounting for Rodney Blake.
However, the men from Melbourne looked enthusiastic with the ball in hand and Kurtley Beale really enjoying his flyhalf role – being involved in almost everything that was creative within the Rebels team.
And as the match progressed their confidence and enthusiasm grew, especially in the second half when they kept the Crusaders scoreless – going from trailing 10-19 to record a deserved and convincing win.
The Rebels showed plenty of early endeavour, but their execution let them down – first a knock-on inside the Crusaders 22 ending a promising move from the kick-off, then another handling error stopping the home team on the Crusaders’ 10-metre line and two turnovers inside the Crusaders’ 22 when Rebels mauls were held up.
It took the men from Melbourne 11 minutes to get reward for their efforts – Nick Phipps sniping around a ruck after several bashes at the line, going under Wyatt Crockett for the opening try. The call went to the Aussie TMO, Matt Goddard, who informed his South African colleague, referee Jaco Peyper, in Afrikaans that it was a try. It was a delightful exchange to compliment a delightful play. Kurtley Beale, who had earlier sparked the attacking momentum with a delightful grubber, added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
The Rebels’ scrum horrors came back to haunt them soon afterwards, when Blake was penalised and Tom Taylor slotted the kick to narrow the gap to 3-7. That became 6-7 moments later, after Hugh Pyle flopped on a ruck like a pile of dung.
Owen Franks did the Pyle impersonation near his own line and Beale made it a four-point game, 10-6, with 15 minutes of the first half remaining.
However, the Crusaders showed their devastating counter-attacking abilities when – from a turnover near their own 10-metre line – they kept the ball through multiple phases and quick off-loads till Samuel Whitelock went over near the left corner. Taylor’s conversion gave the visitors the lead for the first time, 13-10 with less than 10 minutes to go to the break.
Taylor made that 16-10 when Cooper Vuna was penalised at a breakdown minutes later, the Rugby League convert failing to understand that in Rugby Union you are not allowed to hold on in the tackle – a rule that exists only in League – and when Michael Lipman was penalised ad the breakdown Taylor slotted the kick for a 19-10 lead at the half-time break.
As was the case in the first half, the Rebels got early reward for their endeavour – Beale making Sam Whitelock pay for a breakdown offence, 13-19 in the 47th minute. It became a three-point game (16-19 after 55 minutes) when there was another transgression at the breakdown and the referee issued a ‘Whitelock warning’ to the visitors.
The arrival of Andy Ellis seemed to provide some spark the Crusaders’ backs and he was soon joined by Kieran Read, as the Crusaders looked to their All Black-laden bench to salvage the match. However, Read lasted only a few minutes – forced to leave the field after he was illegally brought down in the air at a line-out.
In fact the Crusaders became more erratic and the Rebels continued their second-half scoring spree – Phipps scoring his second try, coming after he ran a great supporting line to Mark Gerrard, who was tearing past the Crusaders defenders on the right wing. Beale’s conversion made it 23-19, with about 13 minutes left on the clock.
The Rebels took a huge leap towards the upset win when veteran Stirling Mortlock intercepted, off-loaded to Cooper Vuna and ran a great supporting line to score the third try. Beale, in his first miss of the match, failed to add the extras, but at 28-19 the Crusaders were left with a mountain to climb and just 10 minutes of regulation play remaining.
Man of the match: Richie McCaw again produced a number of timely interventions for his team, not all of them legal, but his influence on the game was there for all to see. Rebels flyhalf Kurtley Beale left his stud marks all over the field – not just setting up attacking opportunities with clever passes and delightful grubbers, but even attending rucks. Rebels scrumhalf Nick Phipps provided a crisp service, some great out of hand kicking and scored two great tries. He wins our award.
The scorers:
For the Melbourne Rebels:
Tries: Phipps 2, Mortlock
Cons: Beale 2
Pens: Beale 3
For the Crusaders:
Try: S Whitelock
Con: Taylor
Pens: Taylor 4
Teams:
Rebels: 15 Julian Huxley, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Lachlan Mitchell, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Gareth Delve (captain), 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Tim Davidson, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Cadeyrn Neville, 3 Rodney Blake, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 Adam Freier, 17 Jono Owen, 18 Alister Campbell, 19 Ryan Hodson, 20 Nick Stirzaker, 21 James Hilgendorf, 22 Stirling Mortlock.
Crusaders: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Dan Carter, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Tom Taylor, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 George Whitelock, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Ben Funnell, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Tom Donnelly, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Ryan Crotty, 22 Israel Dagg.
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: James Leckie (Australia), Will Houston (Australia)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Australia)
