Expert
The Melbourne Rebels have beaten the Brumbies by just 3 points in a very tight game in Canberra that ended 27-24 to the visitors.
Final score
Brumbies 24
Rebels 27
The Brumbies will look to save their season as they take on the Rebels on Saturday evening in Round 13 of the Super Rugby season. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 7:45pm AEST.
It’s going to sound weird when you consider that these two teams have some of the worst form currently in the whole competition, but this match up could define who leads the Australian conference going into the next round.
The Rebels have not been able to maintain their fast start and have lost their past five games and yet a good win against the Brumbies could see them take the top spot in the conference (assuming the Tahs go down to the Crusaders in Christchurch).
With a pretty favourable schedule over the coming weeks including matches against the Sunwolves and Blues which they should look to get points from, the Rebels will know this match is crucial to their season.
Sadly they are going to be missing some of their most important players with both Will Genia and Dane Haylett-Petty sidelined. When Will Genia left the field last week against the Crusaders the score was 10-13 to the Kiwis. The Rebels didn’t score again and the Kiwis put on another 42 points.
Michael Ruru will have to step up and impress this game – he was pretty woeful last week when he came on and really failed to deliver in any aspect of the game. The Rebels will need better from him this week.
For the Brumbies they must still be wondering where it’s all gone wrong. They were many people’s preseason picks for topping the Australian conference but they have looked indecisive, inaccurate and incapable week after week.
That being said all is not lost, yet. If they can win this game then they do keep some tiny chance of making the finals alive, for now at least. If they lose then their season is pretty much done and dusted.
Their fans will be hoping that the fear will inspire them and not cause them to freeze or panic. Unfortunately two key players are missing – David Pocock and Isi Naisarani are a big loss.
Their ability to get over the gain line and give the Brumbies some go forward is critical and Pocock’s work at the break down is legendary. With these two missing there are some big boots to fill up front.
The return of other talent though is exciting for the Brumbies with Christian Lealiifano, Lachlan McCaffrey and Rob Valetini all returning.
Teams in the Australian conference have won two out of their last fifteen matches this season. The good news is that in this match they’ll be able to notch up their third win. The bad news – they’ll also add their 14th loss.
Prediction
This could be a very tight game. Both sides have so much to play for. Unfortunately it feels like it’ll come down to who will miss their absent heroes the least.
Genia is a huge loss but with both Pocock and Naisarani out it’s easy to see that the Brumbies will really struggle to win ball and get over the gain line.
Rebels to win by 3.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 7:45pm AEST on Saturday.