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Sensational buzzer finish sees Rebels into Super Rugby final

By AAP
Matt Toomua /Gettty Images

Matt Toomua has booted the Melbourne Rebels into the Super Rugby AU finals with a conversion on the siren to secure a miracle 34-30 win over the Western Force in their last round match in Newcastle.

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The Rebels needed to beat the Force by at least four points to earn a play-off berth ahead of the NSW Waratahs and Toomua calmly slotted the conversion after the match-winning try.

It looked like the Force would earn some sweet revenge on the Rebels by claiming their first win of the season.

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In a heart-stopping final minute it appeared Melbourne’s reserve hooker Efi Ma’afu had scored but referee Angus Gardner said he had no clear vision with the TMO ruling the ball had been spilt backwards.

However, play had continued with Cabous Eloff picking up the ball and planting it next to the post, with the TMO awarding that effort.

That gave the Rebels a 32-30 lead, however, a win wasn’t enough, with Toomua’s conversion required to seal their maiden finals appearance.

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“A little bit of relief and just really proud of the boys, we stuck at it there,” Rebels captain Dane Haylett-Petty said.

“Credit to the Force, for a long period of the game there they were on top of us and yeah, it was a great effort to fight back and score that try.”

It was an action-packed match with three players given yellow cards and the teams going toe-to-toe for the full 80 minutes.

Matt Philip looked liked he’d scored in the 78th minute but again there was no clear view of the grounding.

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The Rebels will meet the Queensland Reds in the qualifying final next Saturday.

The winner of that will meet the Brumbies in Canberra on September 19.

It’s the third year in a row that Melbourne’s hopes of a finals berth have hung on a final-round result, and it looked like 2020 would continue their form of falling short.

The match on Saturday came three years to the day that the Perth-based Force were sensationall y axed from Super Rugby – with Melbourne keeping thei r place instead.

Force hooker Andrew Ready looked to have been the the unlikely hero, scoring a try either side of halftime from a driving maul.

Before that Melbourne looked in contr ol, leading 20-8, with tries to Tom Pincus and Reece Hodge, while the Force’s early five-pointer was scored by centre Henry Taefua.

The Rebels took a 20-13 lead into the second half but the Force showed their never-say-die attitude to claw their way back and set up the sensational finish.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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