Melbourne Rebels vs ACT Brumbies: Super Rugby Pacific live scores, blog

Kicking most of the night ineffective, defensively out of position multiple times, and thought he could have had a bit more an impact when brums were dominating with front foot ball. He had a good game and was better than CG. But he’s got a bit to go before we start saying he’s our 10.

noah setup the first tru with some classic larkham-style running and passing, led the team around the paddock, took an intercept off CG and kicked well. what exactly showed his nerves?

Noah certainly stepped up

seriously? noah had a great game and CG a shocker.

Please CG had a shocker and Noah’s game was creative and reliable.

Could it be they have other things (like their future) on their mind?

Go watch the brumbies tries. Try 1. He’s at fullback and despite a break on the wing then kick and chase he gets nowhere near. Attack has the numbers due to overlap and instead of covering he jogs from the middle. Charlie Cale try comes from attempting and absolutely not on bobble pop pass from the ruck. Last try, Brumbies make the break where Kellaway stands still as Toole runs past him. It wasn’t mistakes mostly or just beaten for pace, but lack of effort.

There is cause to think they’re not out of their depth. I suspect you’re overdoing the criticism of Kellaway. Carter needs a far simpler game plan to execute and lots of work on his kicking

They had plenty of front foot ball that. Mauser just stood there and let the D set before he used it

Tuttle looked a whole lot crisper and faster when he came on. Rebs need front foot ball……and a line-out…and blind-side defence….and to pass to a team-mate instead of to the opposition or the try line. Frustrating to watch but entertaining and they are obviously up for a game of footy. A few more games and they’ll be a bit tighter.

I didn’t see that he did. Don’t know if a leg injury was affecting him?

Carter, wow worst game I’ve seen him play. Hopefully that’s just being rusty and not nightmares from Fiji. I noticed the Brums smacked him whenever he touched the ball, Neville got him good without the ball, and Bobby V kept running at him. That might be a blue print against Carter moving forward. Brums find another young gun with Cale, let me guess the Tahs didn’t want him he’s not Syd GPS. Welcome to the Brums Charlie.

Yeah, "sigh", dominoes.

Hope it’s not as bad as that but it’s one alternative from here

That's a strategy I can get behind!

oz, Yep, I'm hearing you. TBH I thought next year was never on the cards but on the face of it what does this year look like? If I was signing the cheques I'd probably just say "no more" and cop the consequences. The problem is what those consequences are in terms of our participation agreement and the cascading effects. Tonight was the first round of the fight back and Rebs were KO'd. I expected far better given the cattle but the coaching looked clueless. Here's my tip: Rebels don't see out the season, the SRPac draw is re-jigged, RA follow Melbourne into administration and Rugby in Australia becomes semi-professional. The tipping point has been reached.

I don’t want them to play any rugby. Rush defence and smash people. Run straight and smash people. Kick it high and smash people. Get into the opposition’s half and kick goals. Rinse and repeat

I live in London and bought a membership. It seems nobody else got the memo.

If players hold defenders by the jersey they do so for one reason only. If you’re dumb enough to do that & roll the dice, you deserve everything you get.

I was so bullish about what this team might deliver before the problems came to light. Now, they look clueless and nobody in Melbourne wants to watch them. I paid for a membership to help out but acknowledge I’ve pi55ed that money away. With the lack of form on the pitch and the lack of crowd, I can’t see any circumstance where the Rebels are around next season. Shame