Melbourne Rebels wet the bed in debut

don't quite get what you're saying. You seem to have no clue as to whats going on down there, or how many rugby supporters there are, or seemed to be just from the Dunlop Luncheon. In any case, there arent two rugby codes, theres one, then theres some other ripoff.

Im tired of this constant backslapping form the Rugby fraternity saying their is a market for Rugby in Melbourne their isn't you're going up against a sport in the A.F.L. where 70% of their competition is based in Melbourne and then you have the Melbourne Storm the other Rugby code where in general if you watch Rugby then you generaly watch League. I just can't see diehard A.F.L. fans crossing over and more importantly the two rugby codes their are going to kill one another for the others attention. Headline Rugby wet the bed, More like a massive permature bed wetting of another sought solo.

Darwin Stubbie Keep up the good work son. I believe the likes of Wall - Nut know exactly what you are saying however they are in a 'hear what we want to hear and disregard the rest' mind set, since all they care about is having their own team no matter what the cost. But thats the way of the world today, we believe we can have our pav and eat it also - without exception. What's really interesting is these teams don't even represent them, it is an illusion that they refuse to acknowledge, especially the Rabble i.e. the Rebels. The Force haven't made up much ground in this respect either, after how many years? As you said, as far as impacting on the National cause, expansion post the ACT Brumbies has not helped things one iota and if anything, has only served to spread more thinly the existing talent while the grass roots and domestic scene is left to whither on the vine. It's akin to people living on credit and not ever thinking where all the money actually comes from - don't you reckon?

ideally i want the best players from my region to play in my team. as a blues supporter and with the likes of dean budd from northland and anscombe from auckland not even making the squad i would be furious if they bought in five argentinians and pacific island qualified players.

The Sydney Uni connection is a very relevant point. It happened with the Rebels ARC team as well. Obviously Syd Uni think they should be a Super 15 team! Look at the "backroom"- a real concern. Sad to think McQueen allowed this influenve to occur. Will be a long year. We do have some local boys who should join the like of Ioane, Tapuai, Leallifano and Siliva in Super ranks shortly. Locals will give them time/support but Friday certainly was a wake up call.

Talking of Mallett: 'Italian coach Nick Mallett has been forced to apologise to referee Romain Poite. In a statement issued on Saturday, Six Nations officials said Poite never wrote any letter to the Italians, as Mallett suggested. The statement read: "Nick Mallett, head coach of Italy, has clarified the position following comments made at a press conference before the Six Nations match against Ireland in Rome on February 5, which gave the mistaken impression that the referee, Romain Poite, had written a letter of apology to the Italian Rugby Federation - following the Six Nations match between Ireland and Italy in Dublin." Acknowledging that the letter had never existed, Mallett said: "I have already apologised to Romain and I am happy to put the record straight after I was reported as saying that Romain had written to us last year.' Incidents like that are why I criticise Mallett. He's an embarrassment to the game.

Suddenly playing more games is a big ask of players when they aren't used to it. Conversely, playing more games might be a benefit for some players. Time will tell, I suppose. Yeah, I agree re: the longer term, but that involves a lot of variables. Realistically it will take a long, long time for the Force and Rebels to start consistently producing Test players, and I don't know how stable the Super tournament is over the long-term. Also, how would a losing franchise affect rugby? Would it be a turn-off to Australians if the Force and Rebels are regular losers?

Mate I understand what you are saying about the length of the season overall, but rugby league players have a longer season and coaches can rotate/rest players ... lol, not in the Henry manner though. As regards depth, in the short term depth is slightly diluted but in the long term it is excitingly extended .... and that is the meat of the matter .... in the longer term Oz rugby develops more players of better quality and gives far more young blokes a wider pathway to higher honours. Short term vision is blinkered, longer term vision is required.

I agree with what you're saying, Terry, but (and I may be wrong here) what VC is saying is that Australia doesn't have enough domestic talent (at the moment) to sustain frive franchises, and that in increased playing schedule is not necessariyl a good thing in terms of player workloads.

DS ... all we see from you is negativity .... give the 5 team confrence some time ... if I was a young 18 year old beginning to hit my straps I would be excited that there was now an extra avenue for me to possibly make the big time .... yes, an extra avenue will initially dilute depth but in the long term it will create depth ... so pull your head in and look longer range

The South Africanes have the Cheetahs and after Friday night the NZ'ers have the Hurricanes.

Best comment I've seen in some time!

It was only 10-0 at the time of the hooker's yellow card and then 19 points scored in the next 10 minutes. I am not suggesting it would have changed the result, just the scoreline. Don't lose heart Rebels fans, the only way is up.

cut the bs mate..we all know the nz and aust unions don't want pi-committed players in their teams..super rugby is only super for australia, new zealand and south africa..not so super for the islands who of this year, 99.9 percent of samoa now don't even watch any super rugby (live nor replays) thanks to fiji tv..europe is different, they want the best players in the world to play in their competitions..

One night doesn't really matter. It's not about being a one night wonder. Let's see where Melbourne rugby is in 2,3 or 5 years time with grass roots players & Rebel's performance and crowds. Rebel's were worse than I expected though. McQueen was out thought. The robot rugby he championed with the Brumbies and Wallabies doesn't cut it any longer. It's fine to recruit attitude but you also need plenty of pace now and where is that pace in the Rebels squad? He has a challenge in front of him that's for sure. The 'Tahs were better than I expected. Smarter, faster. Most importantly smarter. I expect this year we will see dingo Dean's input in Australian rugby start to pay dividends at Super Rugby level too.... Wallabies like KB, Drew and LT maturing and playing with some confidence already. Looking forward to Queensland v WAF.

The SA dont have two whipping boys, watch the Lions beat the Bulls tonight!!

Fair call Doug. I think that's the reason. And by the way everyone, I'm not slagging off the Rebels or their efforts or tactics. I'm not surprised by that as a first up result. All I am saying is agreeing with the author that it was surprising to me they didn't nab more of the 2nd stringers running around. But, again, I'm sure there were good reasons.

I've just finished watching the Brumbies beat the cheifs, how the cheifs didn't win is perplexing gee they dropped a lot of ball. But im just wondering Rugby is a hard game to understand if you don't know it that well , it's still a little perplexing when you do with some of the reffereing descisions but are the A.F.L fringe Vics going to embrace this new concept, BALLSY.

I think that it was a shocking game of Rugby(actually it is not Rugby but a poor imitation of Rugby League). When is the Rugby community going to demand that the Laws are changed to bring true contestability at the break down to allow the game to return to its former glory? I cannot believe that people can get excited over the rubbish that is being served up to them. Anyone who has a good sound knowledge of Rugby as it was before corporate interests got hold of it, would have to agree with me. It has gone from a game of great skill to something bordering on moronic. Sitting amongst a detached crowd which showed only a minimum amount of excitement made me wonder why thousands of people would turn up to watch such trash. If the heavies out there don't believe me,start organising some trial games where the breakdown laws revert to those of the eighties and we will see who is right. I challenge you all.

I have read the comments above and I see both sides of the coin. My biggest concern is not about who they recruited but it about how they actually played the game. if you watched the detail there was an attempt to play an offloading game in the fwds which effectively left them short of players to attack with out wide. OK a narrow pick and drive attack is a method of play but not an effective one in the last 20 years (Eddie tried it at the Reds). then there is the defence - the simple try from the cross kick exposed a very poor defence structure. They have 5-6 coaches (1-2 more than other teams), they have been together as an entire squad since September and no other teams gets their full squad until at least jan and not full training till mid or late Jan. This was also their 5th game and they were happy to spruik their progress on ther trials, including a closer result v Crusaders. The style of game, the number of staff the difficulty of trial games etc are key decisions - the real questions need to be around the decisions being made here - there are enough experienced players - Remember a barbarians team can come together in a week, get pissed, have fun but put enough combinations together to at least score some points and even win - why because they do simple things well - I suspect the Rebels are trying to pioneer something ("Hybrid Game" they were spruiking last week) when they should just concentrate on doing the basics well