Wing Marika Koroibete celebrated his 50th cap for the Rebels with a try in the final minutes that put the seal on an impressive 29-10 Domestic AU win for the Melbourne team over the Waratahs at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
Koroibete’s try at the death ensured that the Rebels ended with a scoreline that did better justice to their all-round dominance in the game than seemed likely for much of a second half where they got little reward in terms of points for the work they put in. In the end a winning margin of 19 points just about summed up their superiority on the night, but they made heavy weather of it and missed several scoring opportunities.
Their sequence of near misses started as early as the fourth minute of the game, when their wing was held up tantalisingly short of crossing the line in the right corner. However, they were awarded a penalty which Matt Toomua kicked to put the visiting team into a 3-0 lead. Their initial advantage did not last long as they gave away a gift intercept try to Waratahs left wing Alex Newsome just four minutes later that enabled the hosts to take a 7-3 lead.
That gift though was really the only thing the Waratahs had to be pleased about in the game. As has been their wont so far in the competition their discipline was poor, and Toomua was able to punish their indiscretions as he added a further three penalties to propel the Rebels into a 12-7 lead. In all the Waratahs conceded 16 penalties in the match, just over their pre-match average of 13.
The Rebels’ advantage in possession and territory was not as pronounced at that point as it was to become in the second half, but they did have the edge, and that pressure contributed to the penalties that the Waratahs gave away. The Sydney based team didn’t help themselves by missing too many tackles, another factor which added to the incredulity that the Rebels weren’t able to score more points across the match.
They certainly came close to crossing the line a few times before they eventually did breach that frontier when Ryan Louwrens, the impressive Rebels scrumhalf, went over off a dominant, advancing five metre scrum. By that point the Waratahs were down to 14 men after Michael Hooper had been yellow carded, and it was the same when Koroibete crossed towards the end, with Jed Holloway having been pinged for the Waratahs’ repeat infringing with 11 minutes to go.
The Rebels never added to their 19-10 lead until Toomua kicked the penalty that went with the Holloway yellow card. Before that, rather strangely, the kicking duties had been given to replacement outside back Andrew Deegan, and the Rebels might have been wondering if it might just not be their night when Deegan missed a penalty from just about in front of the posts.
However with a possession percentage of 76 in the half and having forced the Waratahs to make three times as many tackles as they had to across the full 80 minutes, there was never really any doubt that the Rebels would win. They were just too dominant, the Waratahs’ opportunities to play with the ball so few.
It was the first Rebels win in the competition after they were frustrated by a Reds comeback in their previous game and had to settle for a draw. On this evidence they are the next best challengers in the competition to the Brumbies but they are going to have to become more clinical with their finishing.
Scores
Rebels 29 - Tries: Ryan Louwrens and Marika Koroibete; Conversions: Matt Toomua 2; Penalties: Matt Toomua 5.
Waratahs 10 - Try: Alex Newsome; Conversion: Will Harrison; Penalty: Will Harrison.