Perennial battlers now Rebels with a cause after scintillating start

Perennial battlers now Rebels with a cause after scintillating start

DANIEL LEWIS
May 31, 2010

THEY won seven games last season. This year, perennial battlers Southern Districts have won a barnstorming eight from eight games in the club's best start to a season.

Long-suffering fans of the Rebels - a club born from the merger of St George and Port Hacking in 1989 - are increasingly optimistic that their boys have what it takes to win their maiden first-grade premiership.

In a battle of first versus eighth on Saturday, Southern Districts scored an impressive 36-21 victory against Warringah in slippery conditions at the Rebels' Forshaw Park.

Significantly, the win came against a Warringah team boasting five Super 14 players. A sixth, Pek Cowan, was a late withdrawal.

At one stage in the second half Southern Districts led 29-0. Coach Darren Bray said for most of the match he was very impressed with his team's defence, while good support play led to several tries being scored from 30 and 40 metres out.

''Our whole front row was devastating,'' Bray said, also praising winger Nick Price, who scored three tries.

Bray, 45 and a product of the Sutherland Shire, is in his debut year as a first-grade coach, having been promoted from the seconds last season.

The Rebels team that took on Warringah also boasted Super 14 talent in Dan Palmer (Waratahs), Radike Samo (Reds) and Josh Tatupu (Force). Another Rebel who was a ''standout'' on Saturday and put on some crucial big hits was Sitaleki Timani.

''If some [Super] franchise doesn't pick him up … I'd be very surprised and disappointed,'' Bray said.

There are still 14 rounds of the Shute Shield to play and Bray said the ''honeymoon period is over'' now that clubs have their Super 14 talent back.

Bray expects clubs such as reigning premiers Sydney University (eighth) to significantly improve their performances with a full-strength squad, and ''there's talk of some big names going [to fifth-placed Easts] in the next few weeks''.

The Rebels are looking forward to the return of Waratah Kane Douglas after he plays for the Australian Barbarians in two midweek tour matches against England this month, but probably won't see much of Rob Horne, who is in the Wallabies squad. While much of the Rebels' success is due to healthy support from sponsor Kevin Maloney, Bray said the club had done a good job recruiting fringe players from other clubs and allowing them to flourish.

''One of our good ones for that was Brackin Henry, who, 12 months ago, was playing third grade at Randwick. Now he's started for the Brumbies and is an Australian Sevens player.''

Success has brought healthy crowds to Forshaw Park and ''everyone's got a smile on their face'', Bray said of the fans. ''They've done it tough for a long time.''

Sponsorship and membership were up and in the local newspaper the Rebels had been enjoying as much coverage as league's Dragons and Sharks.

The downside, Bray said, is that ''everyone grows another leg when they're playing the team that's coming first''.