ET Perth Spirit defeat Rebels Without a Clue
The Et Perth Spirit have scored an important 24-3 win over the Melbourne Rebels in front of 3,712 fans at Members Equity Stadium in Perth this afternoon.
The victors ran in two tries to nil, while Cameron Shepherd enjoyed another successful day with the boot, adding 14 points.
The home side continued their pattern of dominating the early stages of games, camping themselves in Rebels territory. Their only reward was two penalty goals to Shepherd in the opening eight minutes, before the flow of the game changed when flyhalf James Hilgendorf limped off after 13 minutes and his replacement Lachlan MacKay followed him just three minutes later.
Shepherd and Rebels’ winger Nathan Trist traded penalty goals in the latter stages of the first half to make the score 9-3 at the break.
Perth’s restructured backline looked dangerous in the early stages of the second period off the back of the good work done by Man of the Match Richard Brown and fellow backrower Scott Fava.
A fourth penalty goal to Shepherd opened the gap to 12-3 after 48 minutes before the Rebels enjoyed their best period of the game, with livewire fullback Damon Murphy and centre Michael Hobbs damaging without crossing the white line.
Skipper Matt Henjak made the Rebels pay for their inability to score when he crossed for the first try of the day on 68 minutes. Shepherd converted to make it 19-3.
Replacement prop Gareth Hardy found himself in space on the left wing after a sweeping movement from the home side, and as he did against the Bulls during the Investec Super 14 season, Hardy scored the sealer to complete the scoring at 24-3.
Brown, Henjak and Tai McIsaac were standout performers for the WA side, while Murphy, Hobbs and David Haigh were impressive for the Rebels.
Both sides will have injury concerns, with Hilgendorf (hamstring) and MacKay (leg) limping off for the ET Perth Spirit, while David Dennis (knee) and Matt Hodgson (hamstring) did the same for the Rebels.
1.10pm: James Hilgendorf kicks off for the ET Perth Spirit.
3rd min: Penalty goal kicked by Cameron Shepherd. ET Perth Spirit lead 3-0.
8th min: penalty goal kicked by Shepherd. ET Perth Spirit lead 6-0
13th min: James Hilgendorf replaced by Lachlan MacKay for the ET Perth Spirit
16th min: Lachlan MacKay replaced by James Stannard for the ET Perth Spirit and David Dennis replaced by Matt Hodgson for the Melbourne Rebels.
24th min: yellow card to Sitaleki Timani of the ET Perth Spirit.
25th min: penalty goal kicked by Nathan Trist for the Rebels. ET Perth Spirit lead 6-3.
26th min: Matt Hodgson replaced by David Haydon for the Rebels.
34th min: Timani returns from the sin bin
39th min: penalty goal kicked by Shepherd. ET Perth Spirit lead 9-3.
HALF TIME: ET PERTH SPIRIT 9 MELBOURNE REBELS 3
Nick Churven replaced by James Hanson for the Melbourne Rebels at half time.
48th min: pen goal kicked by Shepherd. ET Perth Spirit lead 12-3.
48th min: Jon McGrath replaced by Luke Burgess for the Melbourne Rebels.
62nd min: Tai McIsaac and Troy Takiari replaced by Luke Holmes and Kieran Longbottom for the ET Perth Spirit.
64th min: yellow card to David Haigh of the Melbourne Rebels.
65th min: pen goal missed by Shepherd.
68th min: Try to the ET Perth Spirit scored by Matt Henjak. Converted by Shepherd. ET Perth Spirit lead 19-3.
69th min: Richard Stanford and Michael Hobbs replaced by Liam Shaw and Jack Farrar for the Melbourne Rebels. Luke Doherty replaced by Scott Fardy for the ET Perth Spirit.
70th min: Matt Henjak replaced by Will Brock for the ET Perth Spirit.
74th min: David Haigh returns from the sin bin.
75th min: Heamani Lavaka replaced by Mike Ross for the Melbourne Rebels.
77th min: AJ Whalley replaced by Gareth Hardy for the ET Perth Spirit.
80th min: Try to the ET Perth Spirit scored by Gareth Hardy. Not converted by Shepherd. ET Perth Spirit lead 24-3.
FULL TIME: ET PERTH SPIRIT 24 MELBOURNE REBELS 3
ET PERTH SPIRIT 24 (Henjak, Hardy tries. Shepherd 4 pens 1 con)
MELBOURNE REBELS 3 (Trist pen)
