The Melbourne Rebels yesterday ended a frustrating try drought as they held off the Western Force 10-7 to notch their opening victory of the Super Rugby AU season.
After heartbreaking defeats to the Queensland Reds and the Brumbies, the Rebels won an arm wrestle to continue the Force’s woes at HBF Stadium in Perth, where they have lost six straight games.
The Rebels scored one try in each half and resisted the Force’s late comeback.
“Huge for us to get this win. Sums up the character of the team,” Rebels captain Matt Toomua said. “A lot of heart and resilience to grind out that win.”
The sparse crowd in Perth was pumped up with the teams sharing an acrimonious history. The Force infamously lost out to the Rebels when Rugby Australia culled them in 2017, with several high-profile players and coach Dave Wessels defecting to the Melbourne-based franchise.
It was a bitter defeat for the home side, with the Rebels continuing their mastery of an absorbing rivalry, where all bar one of the past 16 contests being decided by single digits.
The Force had come into the contest confident after a win over the Waratahs, which snapped a run of nine straight defeats since returning to the competition.
“I still think we can take a lot out of this game and it could have gone either way in the end,” Force stand-in skipper Brynard Stander said.
Even though they had scored 45 points across two games, the Rebels had remarkably not scored a try, with Wessels preferring his team kick for territory and pressure opponents into conceding penalties.
An aggressive Rebels came out firing, but the Force impressively resisted the onslaught and then started to build momentum by attacking on the outside.
The Rebels’ try hoodoo continued when James Hanson knocked the ball on trying to score, but their jinx finally ended when Lachlan Anderson finished in the corner — ending 197 minutes of frustration.
The second half continued to be a grind until Marika Koroibete set up Joe Powell in the corner in the 62nd minute to stretch the Rebels’ lead, but the Force finally worried the scorers when substitute Jack McGregor scored a try and Ian Prior converted.
Momentum was firmly with the home side with Ross Haylett-Petty sent off for a high tackle in the buildup to the try.
The tension was fueled when the lights in one part of the ground went off in the 74th minute, but the game continued after a 10-minute stoppage and the Rebels grimly held on.
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
‘EVERYONE SAW’: The visitors were left fuming after Jules Kounde was fouled by Claudio Echeverri in the buildup to the winning goal and it went unpunished Spanish champions Barcelona on Monday fell to a damaging 2-1 defeat at Girona to leave them trailing Real Madrid by two points at the top of La Liga. Los Blancos beat Real Sociedad on Saturday to overtake the Catalans and Hansi Flick’s side could not defeat Girona in an gripping derby clash to reclaim the lead. Teenage star Lamine Yamal missed a penalty for Barcelona, who took the lead through defender Pau Cubarsi just before the hour mark. However, goals from Thomas Lemar and Fran Beltran helped Girona, 12th, mount an impressive comeback. “In the end Girona deserved it, they had a lot of
Stade Rennais, four days after firing coach Habib Beye, stunned Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Friday, snapping the defending champions’ seven-match winning run in French Ligue 1. Second-placed RC Lens could leapfrog the champions and retake top spot last night after press time if they beat Paris FC in the capital. PSG started brightly, with Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue carving openings to no avail. Rennes fired Beye on Monday and promoted his assistant Sebastien Tambouret, and the same players who had lost four games on the bounce seemed transformed. Jordanian forward Mousa al-Tamari bagged the opener, unleashing a fierce strike
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
RSS