The improvement in the Melbourne Rebels has been marked over the past few weeks yet the Queensland Reds still managed to find the answers in a fluctuating nine-try contest.
The Reds won 36-32 to move to 7-1 but little will please them with a huge clash against the Hurricanes at the same AAMI Park in Melbourne on April 23.
You just can’t continually let the opposition back in the game as the Reds did and hope to beat a top Kiwi side.
So what did we learn?
1 REDS GO OFF SCRIPT
The Reds put a major emphasis during the pre-season on playing a style where they retained the ball and treasured it when they attacked.
It was all aimed at being ready to play the Kiwis.
They were nowhere near that level last night. The little batted ball between players when possession was won was poor on top of 10 handling errors and 10 penalties conceded in the opening hour.
They led 17-3 and 36-25 yet the determined Rebels came back at them such that the final four minutes were played with the result in the balance.
On the flip side, the Reds stayed in the fight when down to 14 men and later found a counter when down 25-24.
The Reds do train at those long-range 80m counter-attacks. The Rebels had a great passing rush until a super breakdown steal from impressive Fraser McReight turned defence into attack in the first half.
He scooted clear, linked with buddy Harry Wilson and Tate McDermott finished it off.
2 REBELS RALLY
After two straight wins, the Rebels showed their new confidence. Flyhalf Matt To’omua has picked up his game immeasurably since a tame start to 2022.
Lock Matt Philip showed his huge motor again. No one on either side carried more (14), his metres post contract always dragged one or two defenders with him and he scored a deserved try.
Replacement flanker Brad Wilkin was terrific under the ginger mullet with the urgency he put into the Rebels’ good work at the breakdown.
The Rebels showed some good structure when they had the ball. The three early kicks in behind the Reds wingers when on attack were a collective five-out-of-10. Through the course of the match, they probably could have kicked a little less but there was pay when Lawson Creighton and James O’Connor knocked on when the tactic worked in the second half.
The Reds had far more fizz in unstructured play.
3 VUNIVALU COMEBACK
It was largely a quiet 50-minute return to rugby for Suliasi Vunivalu but the main thing really was seeing him back on the field after 10 months dealing with hamstring trouble.
His first touch was an absolutely beauty with some quick footwork on a defender and a backhanded flick pass to send Hunter Paisami down the sideline.
You’d reckon Vunivalu might have read some pages in the overlong rugby rule book during his lay-off. He made the basic blunder of all code converts when he saw a player on the ground with the ball and just dived on him. Penalty.
Great to see him back. Now, let’s just see him with ball to run against the Kiwi sides coming up.
4 CONNOR VEST
There will always be room in Super Rugby Pacific for a breakout game from a journeyman.
Connor Vest had won club premierships with Norths (Sydney) and the University of Queensland (Brisbane) but a chance in Super Rugby had eluded him.
Reds coach Brad Thorn spied a workhorse with some physicality and something more when he saw Vest in club footy last year.
Vest is a lock but stepped up well as a blindside flanker against the Rebels. He soared to wrestled possession from the Reds’ opening kick-off to set up the field position for O’Connor’s early penalty goal.
Better was to come when O’Connor put through a little grubber, Paisami seized the ball and threw a fine long pass to Vest on his right. Vest surged over from 20m out.
5 THE PRICE TAG ON TANIELA TUPOU
As if we didn’t already know. There’s no one like prop Taniela Tupou in Australian rugby.
He deserves whatever price tag it takes for him to stay in Queensland. He should become a 100-game player for the state he consistently says he has great loyalty for. His impact was huge when he came on for the final 28 minutes.
He lifted the scrum but it was his two assertive charges which culminated in the Reds try to grab back the lead late in the game which was the game-turner.
