Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Waratahs deal ill-disciplined Rebels fatal Super Rugby blow

Jed Holloway of the Waratahs and Trevor Hosea of the Rebels scuffle during the round 12 Super Rugby Pacific match between NSW Waratahs and Melbourne Rebels at Allianz Stadium, on May 13, 2023, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

The NSW Waratahs have regained the Weary Dunlop Shield and dealt Melbourne’s Super Rugby Pacific finals hopes a potentially fatal blow with a spirited 38-20 comeback win in Sydney.

ADVERTISEMENT

While the Rebels were their own worst enemies, the Waratahs iced their chances to battle back from 14-0 down on Saturday night and take a giant stride towards the playoffs with a third-straight victory.

The Tahs piled on 14 of their points while the Rebels were a player down, which added up to a quarter of the game at Allianz Stadium.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

Skipper Brad Wilkin and lock Josh Canham were the culprits, both yellow-carded for cynically trying to pull down Waratahs mauls.

It wasn’t only ill-discipline that proved costly for the Rebels, who looked the better side for much of the match.

The visitors butchered at least two try-scoring opportunities, winger Monty Ioane twice spilling the ball with the line beckoning.

“Unreal,” Waratahs coach Darren Coleman said of his side’s recover y mission.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to hang on and try and minimise the bleeding and damage on the scoreboard. They were all over us in the first 20.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Even in defeat, exciting young five-eighth Carter Gordon once again underlined his Rugby World Cup credentials with a dazzling display that must have impressed Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.

Gordon threatened to carve the Waratahs up almost single-handedly in an entertaining first half.

First he put Reece Hodge over with a delightful double-pump short ball then he showcased his brilliant running game to set up the Rebels’ second try moments later to Ioane.

Gordon beat five defenders in a weaving 55-metre advance before the Rebels put the ball through the hands for Ioane to dot down in the left-hand corner.

The 22-year-old’s two key injections had his side 14-0 up in as many minutes.

ADVERTISEMENT

But the Waratahs swiftly struck back with their first penalty try after Wilkin’s blatant intervention as th e NSW maul attacked the Rebels line.

With the f lanker off, the Tahs wasted no time cashing in on their one-man advantage, with captain Jake Gordon showing great foot speed to race 50 metres to score after pouncing on a loose ball from a lineout on halfway.

It was suddenly game back on at 14-14 before the Rebels snatched a three-point buffer just before halftime through a Hodge penalty goal.

The Waratahs hit the front for the first time five minutes after the break with their second penalty try following Canham’s transgression – and were never again headed.

Carter Gordon showed he is not afraid of the rough stuff when he went toe to toe with Waratahs enforcer Jed Holloway in a heated push and shove, but it was the flyhalf’s opposite number Ben Donaldson who had the last laugh.

Donaldson slotted four from four with the boot and put winger Dylan Pietsch over for the final try with a lovely flick pass at the death.

“He had a great day,” Coleman said.

“He kicked really well, his goal-kicking was imp eccable, he tackled bravely. He’s getting better every week – like the whole team.”

While the Waratahs leapfrogged the Queensland Reds back up into sixth spot with the bonus-point triumph, the Rebels remain second last, three points outside the top eight with three games remaining before the finals.

ADVERTISEMENT
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

1 Comment
J
John Eales's toe punt 767 days ago

Even with the reds win over the chiefs, my highlight of the week is watching Carter Gordon run with ball in hand. In a country with so much footy, I do wonder where someone like him has been for the past 5 years.


The rebels had a very off night and the tahs forwards took advantage and won that for their team.


Hope the reds and tahs can both finish out the season strong and give more Aus representation in the later stages of the finals.

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

T
Tom 23 minutes ago
Has 'narrow-mindedness' cost Ribbans and others their Lions chance?

I didn't say anything regarding whether I feel the eligibility rule is right or wrong, you've jumped to conclusions there…


The fact is the eligibility rule does exist and any English qualified player is aware when they sign a foreign contract that they're making themselves ineligible and less likely to be picked for the Lions. If Jack Willis and Dave Ribbans priority was playing for England and the Lions they wouldn't be playing in France. Whether they should be allowed to play for England or not isn't my point. Under the current rules they have chosen to make themselves ineligible so they can't have their cake and eat it while other players have taken lesser salaries to commit themselves to their dream of playing for England and the Lions. They have made their choices.


Besides, while it works for South Africa doesn't prove it will work for any other country. South Africa have an extraordinary talent pool of incredible rugby athletes which no other country can compete with. They sadly don't have the resources to keep hold of them so they've been forced into this system. If they had the wealth to keep all their players at home and were still playing in Super Rugby they might be even better… they could be worse. We can't know for sure but cherry picking the best country in the world with a sample size of 1 and extrapolating it to other nations with very different circumstances doesn't hold water. Again, not saying the eligibility rule is correct just that you can't assume scrapping it would benefit us simply because South Africa are world champions.

17 Go to comments
I
IkeaBoy 1 hour ago
How Leinster bullied the Bulls at Croke Park

Expert coaches exist across the land and the IRFU already funds plenty. Ulster own their academy and who owns Ulster?


If you go to school in the North and rugby/tag rugby isn’t even on the PE curriculum until 12/13 as opposed to 7 or 8 in Leinster, how is that the IRFU’s fault? Even then, it’s only certain schools in the North that will offer it. On what basis would they go up to the North (strictly speaking, another country in the eyes of some) and dictate their schools programme?


The ABs used to be light years ahead of the pack because their eventual test superstars had been playing structured, competitive rugby from an average age of 5/6! On top of kicking it around the yard from the age they could walk with their rugby mad parents and older siblings.


Have you somehow gotten the impression that the Leinster system is not working for Irish rugby? What is that based on? The SARU should just stop competing because despite their back to back RWC’s, all 4 of their URC teams aren’t contesting semi-finals every year?


A couple of mining towns basically provided a Welsh team in the 70’s that were unplayable. Queensland in the old Super 10 provided the spine of an Oz team that were the first to win multiple world cups and in the same decade. The ABs population density is well documented with 35% of the population living around one city.


Is England’s match day 23 equally represented by mid-counties players, tough as nails northerners, a couple from Cornwall, a pack of manc’s and a lone Geordie? Ever?

It’s cute they won’t relegate the Falcons but has a Geordie test player ever hit 50 caps?


It’s ok not to understand geography. It’s also ok not to understand sport. Not understanding the geography of sport is something different entirely.

265 Go to comments
f
fl 4 hours ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Dan Lancaster follows Owen Farrell out the door at Racing 92 Dan Lancaster follows Owen Farrell out the door at Racing 92
Search