Rebels let \"gift\" go begging in loss to Bulls: Wessels

Fri, May 17, 2019, 2:37 PM
Beth Newman
by Beth Newman
The Rebels have fallen to the Bulls in a 32-17 loss at AAMI Park.

UPDATED: The Rebels have let a chance to take the Australian conference lead slip away in a 32-17 loss to the Bulls.

Melbourne tried to outrun the Bulls, setting a frantic pace from get-go and dominating the possession and territory for most of the night.

The Pretoria outfit was all too happy to let the Rebels run at them all night, making tackle after tackle and imposing their physicality even in a fairly open match.

It was a strategy that paid off for the Bulls with the visitors letting the Rebels make mistakes in their own attacking zone and then capitalising on their own opportunities.

Their plan ensured they secured their first win outside of South Africa in three years, while the Rebels were left to rue yet another defeat against a South African side.

The loss also leaves the Rebels stranded in second on the Australian conference, one point behind the Brumbies, and their finals hopes hanging by a thread with a month left in the season.

Rebels coach Dave Wessels remained optimistic that his side was in the reckoning for a playoff spot with plenty of improvement in them.

"The Brumbies have still got to play the Bulls, that's the one thing," he said.

"I think there's certain things in our game that we're trying to get better at.

"From an intensity and a competitiveness point of view, I'm proud of the forwards.

"There's probably some stuff on our backs to manage the field a little better than what we did in that second 40.

"The Bulls have come from South Africa and part of the strategy of wearing them down was to piggy back on that heavy travel factor and thing that they had.

"We didn't do that - we didn’t' use the gift that was given to us."

Bulls flyhalf Handre Pollard managed the match to perfection, creating opportunities in attack and tallying 17 points for the game while former Sevens speedster Rosko Specman starred as well.

Rosko Specman starred for the Bulls. Photo: Getty ImagesMistakes meant the Rebels often let scoring opportunities go begging, most notably in an opening seven-minute stretch where they managed one try despite being camped in their own attacking zone.

The South Africans certainly made their mark with their big bodies in the midfield, putting the heat Rebels halves Quade Cooper and Will Genia especially, and as the match went on their forwards began to take control.

Wessels said he felt his side relied too much on running with the ball in the second half after a promising start.

"I thought in the first half, one of the things was that we kicked a lot more proactively, created some pressure, moved their big forwards around. In that second half, thought early on in the second half, we got some pay for our running game and then overused it," he said.

"That allowed their forwards to get the energy to come back into the game and the pace of the game was very different I the two halves. There was a tempo in the first half which suits us and the things we do and in the second half, that went out of the game a little bit."

Rebels captain Dane Haylett-Petty said errors meant Melbourne couldn't turn their plan into points.

"I think we probably didn't take them to the place we wanted to take them to, made too many errors to really run around like we'd hoped to," he told FOX SPORTS post-match.

"We had lots of half-breaks, half-linebreaks but couldn't quite put them away there.

"I feel like from now they're all big ones. We have to just keep winning. It's a big game this week in Japan, we'll go away, look at that and prepare."


The Rebels dominated possession early and threatened in attack but some poor decisions cost them those early opportunities.

Melbourne finally got some pay for their dominance with Dane Haylett-Petty offloading to Marika Koroibete for their opener in the eighth minute.

It was the first of two tries for Koroibete in one of his best games of a year - a timely outing ahead of this weekend’s pre-World Cup Wallabies camp.

A turnover off the restart gave the Bulls the chance to mount an attack off a lineout and it paid off quickly.

The Pretoria side working their way to a cross-field kick that landed in the hands of winger Conal Hendricks.

Pollard snatched the lead for the visitors in the 17th minute, after a frenetic attacking chain from the South Africans.

Rebels lock Matt Philip stepped up in the absence of Luke Jones and Adam Coleman, putting in a tireless shift, but the Rebels ultimately just made too many mistakes to keep their momentum rolling.

Marika Koroibete scored a double against the Bulls. Photo: Getty ImagesJust when it seemed as if the momentum was slipping away from the Rebels, two big hits from Reece Hodge and Koroibete set the tone for Melbourne to add some spark.

On their next attacking opportunity, Will Genia won an aerial contest, tapping the ball to the Rebels’ advantage, sparking a passage that ended in a score from the halfback.

Melbourne started the second half in perfect fashion with a Koroibete powering over for his double, after Rob Leota broke through a gap in the Bulls defence.

Wessels praised his star winger post-match but said scoring tries was not the only measure of success for Koroibete.

"I think one of the things I get frustrated with Marika is I often get asked about his performances when in actual fact he's had a great game doing a lot of the donkey work," he said.

"He's a winger who is really brave in contact, he really accelerates into his contact work.

"Sometimes that doesn't find him at the end of scoring tries but he's had a really good game just in the shadows doing the dirty stuff. He doesn't always get the recognition from that.

"Sometimes when he scores the tries he hasn't played as well as some of the other ones."

The game ground down into an arm wrestle after Koroibete's second, albeit still an intense one, and it fell to Bulls winger Specman to pull a magic trick out of his bag in the 56th minute to break the stalemate.

Former Sevens star Specman chipped and chased for himself, regathered and sent the ball inside to Burger Odendaal for the Bulls’ third.

A penalty less than a minute later gave Pollard the chance to stretch the lead but the long-range shot faded.

Replacement Bulls halfback Embrose Papier passed a ball through Genia’s legs out of a ruck to kick start a quick chain of passes to a waiting Specman, who finished superbly for his first score.

After some patchy kicking, Pollard slotted a vital penalty in the 75th minute to stretch their advantage to a game-high 15 points.

Wessels said he expected Coleman (shoulder) to play in Tokyo next weekend against the Sunwolves while Luke Jones (eye socket) and Isi Naisarani will be in line to face the Waratahs in a fortnight.

The Rebels head to Tokyo next weekend to face the Sunwolves while the Bulls take on the Brumbies in Canberra.

RESULT

Rebels 17

Tries: Koroibete 2, Genia

Cons: Cooper 

Bulls 32

Tries: Hendricks, Pollard, Odendaal, Specman

Cons: Pollard 3

Pens: Pollard 2

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