Coming off the back of a shock thrashing at the hands of the Waratahs last week, the Reds were back at Suncorp Stadium to face the Melbourne Rebels. The Rebels were hoping to follow on from a victory over the table-topping Brumbies, and took an early lead through a Matt To’omua penalty. That ended up being their last points of the game however, and Jordan Petaia soon put the Reds ahead with a try off of a strong Reds scrum. As the half hour mark approached, a game of kick tennis was clinically ended by Jock Campbell, who broke through an uneven chasing line before feeding Filipo Daugnu, who drew the final defenders before offloading to hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa to score in the corner in the corner; James O’Connor converting for a 14-3 halftime lead.
The first 30 minutes of the second half can be described as a failed siege, as wave after wave of Rebels attacks ended scoreless, with the notable points being some wasted chances, a couple of occasions when the Rebels were held up over the line and a fun moment when replacement prop Cabous Eloff’s shorts fell apart a minute after he came on to reveal he was wearing a pair of hot pink budgie smugglers. Entering the final 10 minutes, the Reds got some possession with a scrum on halfway and – despite having Paenga-Amosa in the bin – clinically cut through the Rebels defence for Hamish Stewart to score off the first phase, solidifying the Reds win by a margin of 19-3.
White line fever
Granted the COVID-19 pandemic has heavily reduced the amount of rugby I’ve been able to watch in 2020, but I haven’t seen such a bad case of white line fever from a team in a long time.
In the second half siege of the Reds’ try line, the Rebels found themselves held up over the line twice. Isi Naisarani knocked on over the line as he tried to get to ground following a rolling maul with 15 minutes left, when if he had just stayed in place at the back he could have fallen safely and scored. There was also one final chance in the right-hand corner when all Marika Koroibete had to do was draw the man and pass, only for him to selfishly keep hold of the ball and get hit back in the tackle, bringing an end to the chance.
Of course when you’re down on the scoreboard you want to score as quickly as possible in order to give yourself the maximum amount of time to come back at your opponent, but trying to be too quick and wasting the chance is an even worse result. It is crucial to stay calm and composed that close to the line. Just look at Exeter, who will go through double-digit phases on the opponent’s line and keeping themselves low whenever they go for the line to ensure they aren’t held up and can get the ball back to keep the pressure on, until they eventually bulldoze over or draw in the defence to create an overlap.
In a game where the smallest of margins can decide the game, the Rebels need to ensure they are less wasteful in the future.
Linchpin
What won’t have helped the Rebels in the second half was the loss of Matt To’omua in the 47ᵗʰ minute. The 30-year-old played fly half for the first half of the tournament but has moved out to 12 in recent weeks to accommodate Andrew Deegan. Unfortunately, his loss in this match proved costly as Deegan struggled to keep any real control to the attack without him – leading to the white line fever I mentioned before. More than that, though, To’omua is a leader defensively, solidifying the midfield and stopping attacks with big hits.
The Rebels can be a very dangerous team, but they need to be able to make sure that they don’t rely too much on a couple of players, otherwise they will win one-off games but not full competitions.
Clash of the titans
Usually when I think of Australian teams, I generally think of smaller, more technical players than massive units, but this match is one of the exceptions. In Pone Fa’amausili and Taniela Tupou, the Rebels and Reds have probably the biggest behemoths in Super Rugby AU, while Cabous Eloff put his hand up for recognition as well as probably becoming a fan favourite with his hot pink budgie smugglers.
What makes these props so impressive is that they are sizeable units, but have all shown themselves to be able to reach a decent speed when allowed a run-up, making them even more destructive when going into contact.
The Rebels especially seem to be trying to utilise their destructive running by having at least one of Fa’amausili or Eloff deep on drop-outs, with the idea that they will take the kick – or be given the ball by whoever does – and have 20+ metres to reach top speed ahead of reaching the defensive line in a similar way to a rugby league prop usually taking the ball into contact following a drop-out. With other similar props out there including Ellis Genge, expect to see other teams looking at a similar set-up if the goal-line drop-out becomes a permanent fixture in rugby.
Eyes on the Ball 