The uprising that the Melbourne Rebels have been hatching is real after thoroughly deserving their 40-34 upset of the Queensland Reds tonight.
Anyone moaning about the Tate McDermott “no try” costing the Reds the game just has to see it as balancing the Daniel Maiava “no try” a few minutes earlier.
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Both were over-zealous judgements on “tries” by the TMO that might have been whistled as good if we weren't in "Pedantic Round" for Super Rugby Pacific.
So what did we learn from the end-to-end action amid the 11 tries at Melbourne’s AAMI Park?
1 MEASURE CARTER GORDON FOR A GOLD JERSEY
Young Rebels flyhalf Carter Gordon is picking the right time to stand up as a playmaker.
He has to be in Eddie Jones’ first Wallabies squad of the year in June even if just to get a taste of the training and environment of the next level for the future.
He’s thoroughly involved as the rudder of the Rebels. He defends strongly in the frontline, his kick has more distance than many fellow No.10 contenders, his kicking at the sticks has been spot on (five-from-six) and his attacking game has punch to it.
The Matt Gibbon try for the 21-14 lead was all about Gordon as the trigger. He took the line on earlier in the play and fed a perfect one-handed offload to Monty Ioane.
There’s far more sizzle to his game than NSW Waratahs No.10 Ben Donaldson, at present, if you want to compare both their recent efforts against the Chiefs.
2 THE REBELS BEAT THE REDS ON AND OFF THE FIELD
The Reds were Super Rugby AU champions in 2021 but the recruitment of big, high-impact forwards has been almost non-existent since.
By contrast, the Rebels have gained some real strike power with smart recruiting, notably explosive Kiwi No.8 Vaiolini Ecuasi.
“Angelo Who?” might have been the puzzled look on most faces when trying to work out who scored the Rebels’ matchwinning try.
The 2m Angelo Smith is a former Fijian Under-20s player and was dynamic for Wests in their premiership run in Brisbane last year.
Yep, the Rebels pinched a player from under the noses of Queensland rugby officials who should have got in first. Put that down as a tick for Rebels General Manager of Rugby Nick Stiles, the former Reds coach.
The Reds tight five was tame again apart from workhorse lock Ryan Smith.
For the Josh Flook try in the second half, two of the Reds smallest players, McDermott and James O’Connor, did the stepping, hard running into the teeth of the defence to set things up.
3 MONTY IOANE
It’s about time we saw Monty Ioane at full tilt. Some games, the play has just run to the other wing.
In this game, he seemed to be everywhere. The Melbourne-born winger, who plays for Italy, racked up 151 running metres from 15 carries.
Better still, he was contributing in so many ways with his support, a good tackle here and there and just working hard off the ball.
4 REDS IN A HURRY
The Reds too often seem like they are in a hurry to score.
When they were patient, they produced fine five-pointers like Jordan Petaia’s first try. There was good steady build-up, James O’Connor straightening the attack and a nice interchange of passes.
Down 40-34, the Reds had ample chances to steal this game at the death in the closing 13 minutes. There were two costly knock-ons even before the final play on full-time fizzled.
The Reds have some serious tidying up do. At 2-3, it doesn’t get any easier against the Crusaders at Suncorp Stadium next Friday night.
5 WALLABY POINTERS
You just have to like the way Petaia has hit the season with full involvement. Two more tries showed his quality.
Red-headed Rebels flanker Brad Wilkin was a disruptor again at the breakdown for the Rebels and 24 tackles was the measure of his workrate. Rather than Fraser McReight, it was Liam Wright who impressed in that area for the Reds with two important turnovers.
O'Connor did some very good things too in this game.
