Rebels' 'statement' Super trial victory ends tough week

Sat, Feb 3, 2024, 4:55 PM
Melissa Woods - AAP

The Melbourne Rebels have put aside their off-field woes to post a 38-12 victory over the NSW Waratahs in their first hit-out of the year.

The Rebels entered voluntary administration this week but the side gave their fans at local club Moorabbin something to cheer about on Saturday, stretching their 12-5 halftime lead into a convincing Super Rugby Pacific preseason win.

Former Queensland and Wallabies lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto formed a dangerous first-half combination with youngster Josh Canham, who scored a try and set up another.

Youngster Daniel Maiava, who came on in the second row in the second half, posted a double.

Rebels general manager of rugby Nick Stiles said it was a solid performance at the end of a tough week.

"It's fantastic. It's the first trial game we've won in the last three years," he said.

"With everything else that's been going on we wanted to come out and make a statement around that.

"We've been so confident around the work we've been putting into the program for the last few years and I thought today was a reflection of how hard they've trained through the preseason and the depth we've got in the group.

"It's only a trial game, but it's a great starting point."

Stiles said Salakaia-Loto, 27, was in great condition and showing great attributes after returning from English club Northampton.

"Our new head of strength and conditioning Luke Bellow has got him into career-best shape," he said.

"It's the fittest he's ever been, it's the leanest and he's got more muscle and he's just been an absolute leader.

"We're really stoked with how he's started."

Another star recruit, Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou, played the opening 30 minutes in hot conditions and most importantly given his injury history came through unscathed.

The Waratahs, who were missing skipper Jake Gordon, also left intact with Wallabies backrower Langi Gleeson among their tryscorers.

I wonder, without being able to watch, if this result is more about the Rebels and emotion, or the Tahs and another over hyped year?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Burgs

Sat, Feb 3, 2024, 4:55 PM
Melissa Woods - AAP

The Melbourne Rebels have put aside their off-field woes to post a 38-12 victory over the NSW Waratahs in their first hit-out of the year.

The Rebels entered voluntary administration this week but the side gave their fans at local club Moorabbin something to cheer about on Saturday, stretching their 12-5 halftime lead into a convincing Super Rugby Pacific preseason win.

Former Queensland and Wallabies lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto formed a dangerous first-half combination with youngster Josh Canham, who scored a try and set up another.

Youngster Daniel Maiava, who came on in the second row in the second half, posted a double.

Rebels general manager of rugby Nick Stiles said it was a solid performance at the end of a tough week.

"It's fantastic. It's the first trial game we've won in the last three years," he said.

"With everything else that's been going on we wanted to come out and make a statement around that.

"We've been so confident around the work we've been putting into the program for the last few years and I thought today was a reflection of how hard they've trained through the preseason and the depth we've got in the group.

"It's only a trial game, but it's a great starting point."

Stiles said Salakaia-Loto, 27, was in great condition and showing great attributes after returning from English club Northampton.

"Our new head of strength and conditioning Luke Bellow has got him into career-best shape," he said.

"It's the fittest he's ever been, it's the leanest and he's got more muscle and he's just been an absolute leader.

"We're really stoked with how he's started."

Another star recruit, Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou, played the opening 30 minutes in hot conditions and most importantly given his injury history came through unscathed.

The Waratahs, who were missing skipper Jake Gordon, also left intact with Wallabies backrower Langi Gleeson among their tryscorers.

I wonder, without being able to watch, if this result is more about the Rebels and emotion, or the Tahs and another over hyped year?

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Be interesting to see how rebels go this year…there poor results have not helped them build their fan base..would be almost ironic if in final season say they make the top 4 , not that I predict that…and then get booted out. Unless some rich benefactor like another twiggy with the force comes out the rebels are gone in 2025.

There's no reason for the rebels to have a bad year with the recruiting they've done.

It's possible that they simply went out and threw the bank at every high level player who was off contract regardless of the financial position they are in.

It's unlikely to get a single fan out of the clutches of AFL, but it should be a spectacular flamout whether they win or lose every game.

‘It can’t fail’: Rebels fans stand proudly behind their embattled club

Roy Ward, SMH
February 3, 2024 — 7.49pm

Melbourne Rebels stakeholders had their say on Saturday calling for Victoria’s Super Rugby club to be saved.

In bright sunshine and 30 degree heat, the Rebels beat the NSW Waratahs 38-12 in their first trial game of 2024 throwing aside several weeks of doubts over the future of the embattled club which is currently being reviewed by administrators.

The Moorabbin Rams Rugby Club hosted the match at their home ground with an estimated 3000 fans turning out for a day of clinics, events and the Super Rugby match which featured Wallabies stars like Taniela Tupou, Carter Gordon and many others as they prepared for the new Super Rugby campaign. The Rebels looked much improved with strong defensive efforts in a breakaway second half win.

Rebels coach Kevin Foote hopes the off-field turmoil would “galvanise” his players and the quality of this win and his club’s defence, which kept the Waratahs to two tries, boosted those hopes.

“Brad Harris our new defence coach has really built the belief in the defence, he is a hard nut and he demands big things from the guys so fitness, defence and belief in our game - it was a really good hit out for us,” Foote said.

“It’s a bit distracting and unfortunate [the off-field issues] but we can just focus on the rugby now, so the timing of this trial game has been pretty much perfect.”

No.8 Langi Gleeson scored the opening try for the Waratahs, but they couldn’t contain the Rebels line up with featured Tupou for the first time since his move from the Queensland Reds while a short-haired Gordon looked a confident figure in his first match since Australia’s Rugby World Cup campaign.

But as the Rebels powered up and down on freshly laid turf, those who love Victorian rugby spoke up for the team and the need for the future.

Rebels member and Moorabbin clubman William Smith proudly spoke of his love for the way both clubs had made his family feel a part of the community since moving to Melbourne from Scotland seven years ago.

Smith can’t see a future for rugby in Australia without the Rebels despite the club’s well-documented struggles with debt after the difficulties of COVID-19.

“That’s not going to happen - Australian rugby won’t survive without a Rebels team, without a team in Victoria,” Smith said.

“Australian rugby needs it and I don’t even want to talk about the notion that it will fall over. It can’t fail.

“Many other things could and should have happened, especially from a Rugby Australia perspective, I don’t understand why people can watch a professional team like the Melbourne Rebels die on the vine - that’s not OK with me.

“It’s not right.”

Moorabbin president Arvind David rattles off the names of players who have developed at the Rams and gone on to play international rugby be it for Australia, Scotland, Samoa, USA or others.

Recent Wallabies flanker Pete Samu and Wallabies and Rebels prop Pone Fa’amausili are among those who have gone from the club to the world.

David wants to see more of them have the chance to play at home like Fa’amausili has.

“We know what that is like [to not have a team] - rugby has only been professional for a short period in this nation’s history and the Rebels were the last franchise to come onboard,” David said as fans poured into the bar.

“So it’s not like Victorians don’t know what it is like to not have a Super Rugby team, we’ve only had a team for a blink of an eye in the history of rugby.

“It would be a huge disappointment for the corporates who get behind sports and make the high-value games that come into the state - for years Victoria was a state were everyone else came here from elsewhere, took money from the state and corporates and disappeared.

“For the first time, we’ve had a Super Rugby team try to grow here, and it’s a 20-year journey.

“You are taking away the pinnacle of the sport in this state and we just know that for a state that generates elite players that feed a lot of nations in the World Cup including Australia, it guarantees you are going to push those players outside the country.”

David said Australian rugby needed to stand by the Rebels.

“We’ve invested as a nation in developing the sporting networks that Australia has so for me, it’s an Australian thing, is Australia going to take rugby seriously but not have a team in the top sporting city in the nation?” David said.

“It’s the biggest sporting market and, to me, it’s a strategic decision on how you want to appeal to the masses.

“The growth isn’t in the [rugby] states north of the border - the growth is right here.”

I love the "well documented financial troubles since COVID" with no mention about the not so well documented financial troubles between launch and COVID