The Melbourne Rebels have made it a Super Saturday for Australian teams, backing up the NSW Waratahs’ shock win with a 26-22 victory over Moana Pasifika.
The Waratahs upset the Crusaders 24-21 in Sydney in the early game before the Rebels held on for their own Super Rugby Pacific win over the competition newcomers at AAMI Park.
A try in the 77th minute by winger Timoci Tavatavanawai set up a thrilling finish although the conversion by Christian Lealiifano was off target.
The Rebels then had centre Ray Nu’u sent off in the final minute for a high shot on Lealiifano, but Lincoln McClutchie failed to find touch, robbing his team of a final attempt to score a match-winning try.
The lead changed four times through the match with Melbourne managing to stay in front from the 53rd minute, when fullback Reece Hodge glided through a gap in the defence.
With six minutes remaining five-eighth Carter Gordon stalled a fightback when he stopped a certain try by knocking the ball from the hands of McClutchie as he dived over the line.
Moana Pasifika’s first match on Australian soil was postponed last round with Western Force unable to field a side due to COVID-19.
Their first points came through flanker Alamanda Motuga after they used an attacking line-out to drive the ball across the line in the 10th minute.
Rebels hooker James Hanson countered, scoring twice off the same play, with a late penalty strike by Lealiifano closing to trail 14-10 at halftime.
Moana Pasifika’s pressure on Melbourne reaped a reward in the 49th minute through prop Abraham Pole to regain the lead until Hodge’s five-pointer.
Wallabies winger Andrew Kellaway then broke a seven-game drought with a try against the run of play to give the hosts more breathing room.
Rebels coach Kevin Foote will be disappointed with Nu’a’s red card, with the centre only returning this match from a two-match ban.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Exactly. Recruiting Kerevi now doesn’t stop you trying to develop the best talent coming out of school now. Chances are that after Kerevi’s 2 years is up he may be looking to leave, so you try and prepare a replacement before then. That said I’d be surprised if Kerevi did end up at the Rebels
Paulo
Roar Rookie
The smart move is to do both. Kerevi for right now, he also helps the younger players develop, especially centres, so when he moves on for bigger money, which eventually he would, you have someone he has influenced to replace him. Bish bash bosh - sorted.
pm
Roar Rookie
What would you suggest then, Kick n Clap? It’s harder to come up with solutions than look for problems though, isn’t it? Harder too, to be insightful than to exaggerate.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
So recruit a young guy in the hope that he *MIGHT* turn out as good as Kerevi in a few years time?
JC
Roar Rookie
Not Carter himself — recruit a young 12 as they’ve done with Carter at 10 (if they don’t have anyone promising locally). You get the advantage of cohesion too. Someone like Kerevi would take a lot of cash, and perhaps have motivations that aren’t aligned with the Rebels’. But just my opinion.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
What’s stopping them from doing both? Unless Carter Gordon is going to play 12 I don’t see how recruiting Kerevi stops them developing him. And unless you can name a promising local (so have an idea of how far away from SR standard they are), silly to say develop a local over recruit Kerevi. I can’t think of any team in the world that would say “nah let’s not try and recruit this star player”. Be smart about it, don’t over spend and sacrifice everything else, but even a top team would consider it. Let alone a team that needs to improve.
JC
Roar Rookie
See your point but better to develop locally, or recruit and develop a youngster like Carter Gordon. True, they won’t have the same impact initially but it will show their pathways are working and that they have a decent program. The Rebels are doing ok; goes without saying they need to keeping competing for wins, media exposure and fans. Score more tries like the one Kellaway finished and people will jump on the bandwagon. :thumbup:
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
But where it hasn’t worked is because it was recruiting a star on their star value over their need. The Rebels are actually pretty light on in centres. So Kerevi would provide attack and also add quality in their weakest position. Doubt he ends up at the rebels, but he’d be a huge get if he did because he’d provide great quality in a position of weakness
JC
Roar Rookie
Disagree. Kerevi is a great player but recruiting ‘stars’ has not worked in the past. The Rebs need to make stars of their own success stories — Kellaway, Leota, Eloff, Hodge etc, who have a long-term commitment to Melbourne.
Ankle-tapped Waterboy
Roar Rookie
Sunday 2 May: nil reporting of this match's result on the Melbourne media news sites. Talk to the journos. They aren't so much a filter as a blocker.
Reds Harry
Roar Rookie
Kerevi would be a bonus for any team.
Kick n Clap
Guest
Great to see there’s plenty of Moana Pasifika fans living in Victoria to boost the crowd attendances to over three figures? Just a pity nobody else from Melbourne is interested in the home team?
Dicky
Roar Rookie
Good outing from the Rebels. Without getting carried away it makes you realise how bad their injury toll at the start of the season really was. Missing guys like Pone, Leota, Hosea (still out), Uelese (in and out), Hardwick (in and out) in the forward pack alone leaves a big hole. With all those guys playing they’ve actually got a pretty competitive pack. A good composed all round game from Gordon. Managed territory well with the boot, some crucial tackles when his team needed them and a deft little pass to put Hodge into space for his try. Was a performance of substance without anything overly flashy. Anyone catch Horan in the post game chat talking about the Rebels future recruitment? Seemed to think there is a chance Stiles would be able to sign Kerevi and Tupou in the coming years. I’ve got doubts about Tupou being interested but gees wouldn’t Kerevi be just what the rebels need at the moment?