VIDEO: Rebels take 'big step forward'
SUPER RUGBY REACTION: The Rebels have taken a giant leap towards reaching the play-offs for the first time.
The Rebels, who’s best finish was last year’s ninth position, cement their spot in the play-off zone when they scored a 30-24 confidence-boosting win over the Reds to reaffirm their position at the top of the Australian conference.
The Rebels are on 28 points (from 11 games), followed by the Brumbies (24 from 11), the Reds (23 from 11) and the Waratahs (21 from 10) in a tightly-fought Australian conference.
The Rebels ran in four tries to two, for a welcome victory after three successive losses.
It was far from their best performance, but Rebels coach Dave Wessels said it was a game that in the past they may have lost.
He described it as a “big step forward”.
“There’s a big growth in our team in our ability to control our emotions and get on to the next job,” Wessels said.
“We were leading and then the game could have gone either way and maybe in the past we would have let some soft moments go, but we hung in there, played tough and strangled them.”
The Rebels desperately needed a win to set up the back end of the season, after they let an impressive start to the year slip.
“It was a good win, we had to grind it out there in some tough conditions,” said captain Haylett-Petty.
“We put pressure on them, especially when they had some [yellow] cards.
” We obviously wanted to get back to winning ways, but also our brand of rugby — and we did through patches there.”
Sources: AAP & AFP
