Brumbies vs Rebels: Super Rugby live scores, blog

Full Match Report The Brumbies have gone down in a tight one against the Rebels 21-24 at GIO Stadium in Canberra with the result pretty much closing the door on any chances for the Brumbies to make the finals. In a weekend of exciting results, this one lived up to the same standards in terms of tense finishes but sadly didn’t quite deliver in terms of quality during the game. For the Rebels they will care more about the win than the quality. It could be a key turning point for them as it brings to an end a run of 5 losses and gets them to just one point behind the Tahs who slipped up against the Crusaders earlier. It is too early though to say that the Rebels are a good team - they won today and that was partly down to their passionate defence and partly down to the inability of the Brumbies to convert periods of huge amounts of possession and territory into points. The visitors made a fast start with a good early try from English but then the would have to withstand big periods of having to defend and defend deep in their own half. The Brumbies started to get some rhythm going and their three first half tries gave them full control. When Mafi was told to go and spend 10 minutes on the sideline for a high tackle the Brumbies were ruthless - two converted tries and a real sense of confidence was flowing through the team. But when it was 15 on 15 they just lacked the ability to be as ruthless. They let the Rebels in on the stroke of half time for a critical score that let the visitors back into the game. That being said, when the second half kicked off it felt like the Brumbies were still in the driving seat. They were 21-10 up and while the Rebels were fighting hard, they didn’t look like a real scoring threat so surely the Brumbies couldn’t lose this one. Over the next 40 minutes fans saw an exciting half of rugby. First the Brumbies threw everything they had at the Rebels and had set up shop in the Melbourne team’s 22. TIme after time they got close but simple errors and valiant defense kept them out. They shied away from taking shots at goal for about 15 minutes of dominance before finally deciding that they just had to get some more points on the board and Hawera slotted one over from in front to stretch their lead to 14 points. When they had another shot at goal a few minutes later it felt like this good be the death blow - a 17 point lead with about 20 minutes to go was going to be hard to overcome. However the kick was missed and 2 minutes later the Rebels had struck as Maddocks finished a fantastic move for the visitors. They retained possession for phase after phase before making a number of good breaks and over stretching the tiring Brumbies defence. Before the Brumbies could regather their thoughts they were back under the posts again watching a Rebel conversion. The Brumbies gave away another penalty - one of ten they conceded in the game - and the Rebels took full advantage with a solid maul of an attacking line out before Ruru broke down the short side and put Tupou in for another try. Hodge, who was pretty reliable all night long, nailed a tough side line conversion and with 14 minutes to go it was all square on the scoreboard. The Brumbies had their chance to win the game but Leali'ifano missed a 75th penalty kick at goal. It was tough for Leali'ifano as he had been good for the rest of the game. He brought a calmness to the Brumbies that had been missing in previous games and it would have been fair if he’d knocked over the winning score. But the Rebels took their opportunity when it arose in the 79th minute. A penalty was given for the Brumbies but then over turned by the TMO as Sam Carter was punished for a high tackle in his 22. Hodge succeeded where Leali'ifano failed and nailed a tough kick from out wide. And that was the ball game. What did we learn from this game? Well the Brumbies really are shocking this year. As the game went on they looked out of ideas about how to unlock the Rebels defence. Two of their three tries came from when the Rebels were down to 14 men and with all the possesion of the first 15 minutes of the second half they couldn’t come away with any points at all. Speight seemed to try hard when he had the ball in hand but he was loose in contact leading to at least one turn over and his tackling continues to be Tough Rugby esque. Powell too didn’t do enough at #9 - he’s a bit too slow with his pass from the breakdown and he butchered an almost certain try when he passed the ball straight into Kuridrani’s head just a few metres from the line. Speaking of Kuridrani - he has had a very average season. While Kerevi has really come on this year in the centres at the Reds, Kuridrani has been missing in action in Canberra. Rebels fans shouldn’t get carried away though. It was a hard fought win and the players should be smiling for sure. But the Brumbies are one of the worst teams in the competition this year and beating them should be on the same to do list as doing your laundry and remembering to pay the mortgage. It’s just one of those things you get done and tick off. Maddocks and English looked good today and Mafi put in a solid performance but there’s a big gap from Genia to Ruru which needs to get smaller and the scrum was quite hit and miss today. Speaking of the scrum - something has to be done about it!! At one point int the second half we had to wait for about 6 to 7 minutes for just one scrum to be completed. The ref kept resetting over and over without any punishment and the teams took so long to follow his instructions. At the time the Brumbies had all the ball but desperately needed another try and yet there was little to no urgency in their pack. They needed to be back in position and showing the ref and the rest of the team how hungry they were to get on with the contest. Was it an exciting game to watch - yes it was. Was it a game of high quality rugby - no it wasn’t. Will any of the other sides in the competition look at the Rebels or Brumbies as threats based on today’s game - no chance.