The Cell C Sharks were beaten 46-14 by the Rebels at AAMI Park in Melbourne in a disappointing Vodacom Super Rugby clash on Friday morning.
The game never really clicked into gear but the Rebels managed to make the most of their opportunities to underline their status as the best Australian side in the competition.
The Cell C Sharks were looking to consign the Rebels to a second successive loss after the Melbourne team had started the season unbeaten before falling to the Waratahs last weekend and with a record of having played five against the Rebels, having won four and drawn one, were hoping history would continue the unbeaten run.
But this is a new-look Rebels side and they did all the right things against the Cell C Sharks on the night.
A massive breakout of their 22 set the home side up for early points, eventually slotting a penalty within two minutes of play to get the scoreboard ticking.
There was a good period of possession for the Cell C Sharks to set up a penalty, but the kick was marginally wide, before the Rebels showed why they have led the overall log with a strong effort that saw them drive the ball over for the opening try of the game. The conversion from out wide gave the home side a worrying 10 point lead.
Three minutes later, the Rebels exploited a gap in the midfield to score what looked like their second try, but the TMO referral showed that Marius Louw was impeded by a dummy runner and the try was disallowed.
We looked to strike back but a knock-on then scrum penalty put the Rebels back on track, then an attempted intercept was ruled cynical and Curwin Bosch was carded. There was no damage done as the rebels lost the first lineout and then overthrew the second to concede great advantage.
The Rebels were camped in our 22 during the 10 minute period we were down to 14 men, but we defended heroically, before finally getting an opportunity to attack from a scrum, before some wonderful interplay led to Lwazi Mvovo driving over and Robert du Preez converting to open the game up completely with 10 minutes of the first half remaining.
But despite being starved of ball, the Rebels struck back with another powerful driving maul off an attacking lineout and there was no stopping the juggernaut as they took a 15-7 lead into the half-time break.
The second half started off in similar vein to the first, with the Rebels striking first blood with a three pointer, this time after a scrum penalty went the way of the home side.
The frustrations continued as the Rebels hammered away at our line, before a quick tap penalty from Will Genia saw the home side scoring their third try with the final quarter of the game looming, and at 25-7 down, the Cell C Sharks had a mountain to climb in the last 20 minutes if they harboured any hopes of pulling off a win.
The Rebels had TMO referred try awarded for the bonus point with the game having slipped from our grasp with 15 minutes remaining. The 25 point difference was extended to 32 as the Rebels prop and lock conspired to combine for the fifth try over a distance of 40m.
With the Rebels down to 14 men, we hammered away at their line before Lwazi Mvovo went over, but the TMO was again called into action and he ruled a knock-on. However, there was penalty advantage and the scrum option proved to be the right one as the ball went to Garth April who fed Marius Louw for the try.
But it was too late and the Rebels closed out the game with a try.
Captain Ruan Botha summed it up afterwards, saying, “Discipline cost us, handling errors too and they capitalised on that.”
The post Not Good Enough in Melbourne appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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