Rebels coach Kevin Foote has admitted that his team had to do some soul searching after their latest act of ill-discipline cost them during last Sunday's loss.
The Melbourne-based side lead after 45 minutes and gave themselves every chance to upset the Highlanders.
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However, a series of loose penalties and a rogue kick-out by hooker Jordan Uelese saw the hooker sent for ten, allowing the Highlanders to put on 21 points whilst he was off the field.
It reflects a worrying trend for the Rebels, who have been the worse enemy throughout their past five games.
During Round Nine of Super Rugby AU, two separate Rebels (Marika Koroibete and Trevor Hosea) were sent to the bin in the first half as the Brumbies raced out to a 19-7 lead, eventually going down 26-20.
The six-point loss would prove crucial as they would narrowly miss the finals to the Western Force.
This continued into Round Two of Trans-Tasman against the Hurricanes as Cabous Eloff was sent for ten after a number of penalties early on, allowing the Hurricanes to run in two tries.
The bevy of cards led Foote to seek answers from his players, conceding the speed of the game was the main culprit.
“There’s a couple of ways I look at it and I spoke to the players about it yesterday. Is the game too fast for them? Are they feeling overwhelmed so they don’t actually mean to make offside penalties? If that’s not the case, do they not trust themselves and their own self-discipline or do they don’t feel pressure in their selection so there’s no accountability around them?” he pondered.
“Everyone’s different but it’s something that I am working through with each individual to make sure we get it right.
“I think the common theme is guys getting used to the speed of the game, especially in the first 20 minutes.
“The Kiwi teams like to come out and win it in the first 20 with the tempo. I think we’re starting to get used to it so we’ll be better off for it but we need to make sure we’re not giving away silly penalties because if the arm goes up and you see advantage, you’re not getting the ball back.”
With the club showing a remarkable change of fortunes from the first loss - a 50-3 thumping to the Blues - Foote believes a change in kicking style has allowed their forwards to make their mark on the game and dominate up front.
“I think the first thing is that we just couldn’t exit against the Blues. We could never kick out of our 22 and couldn’t throw any punches so we’ve changed our kicking mindsets around that, we want to get more contestable kicking and getting ball to counter-attack,” he believes.
“Our set-pieces have also taken a big step up. Against the Blues, they went hard at us at line-out and scrum time so we’ve targeted that area.
“We just want to make sure we’re looking out for our forwards both from a kicking perspective and ball in play against the Kiwi teams.”
Foote confirmed that whilst Matt To'ouma has overcome a nasty cut to his head, Campbell Magnay (concussion) will remain on the sidelines after he was a late withdrawal from last week's game.
