Super Rugby Round Three: Rebels v Cheetahs, Friday 28 Feb, AAMI Park

[Bruce Ross]

Truck and trailer blueprint that was.

As I see it this was an unusual variant of the "truck and trailer" situation. If a player holding the ball detaches from a formed maul while other players in the maul continue moving forward, they are guilty of obstruction if the player with the ball continues moving forward using the players in front as a shield.

In last night's game four Cheetahs players including the ball carrier detached from the maul and drove forward.Those players still engaged with Rebels players were not guilty of obstruction because they were not acting as a shield.

However, the player with the ball was shielded by those who detached with him. My non-referee view is that the original maul ended when the ball carrier detached from it but immediately after there was a new obstruction offence. This is clearly shown by a Rebels player attempting to stop the advance but with no chance of getting to and tackling the ball carrier.
.

 

[Highlander35]

Quick theoretical question.

With no structured maul, would a player be entitled to go straight for the ball carrier?

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[Ruggo]

Blah, blah, blah, the Cheetahs played as bad as the Rebels forced them too. Right from kick off they just piled on the pressure and that is purely a credit to them so forget this crap about how bad the Cheetahs were.

That was a bloody coherent performance from the Rebels and credit to every player who did the job expected. Higgers also looks to be a bloody fine captain. Could he turn out to be a smokey for the Wallabies job.

I also thought Inman at 12 looked a treat and looks to have found a handy distributing game also. Hegarty ran the backline well and looks good taking the ball to the line. Inman and Ellison looked a good combination the the defensive read between them is impressive. They look to have that knack of rushing up and putting on the big hit accurately much like Ant Fainga'a does. Woodward is dangerous with ball in hand but he needs to look for his support more as he tends not to. Jones again massive in work rate. He may just put his hand up for the Wallaby six spot if he keeps it up. Him and Fardy are very similar in how they play. Weeks looks to have hit that point where a front rower matures with experience.

Well done Rebels.

 

[Braveheart81]

I really liked Hugh Pyle's game. Initially I thought he was quiet because he was being outshone by Luke Jones who was excellent. After Jones came off though he really lifted his work rate and had a big influence on the game.

It was a real 80 minute performance structured to be most influential when his team needed him.

Well played.

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[qwerty51]

Interested to see who plays 6 for the majority of the season. I doubt it will be McMahon, as impressive as he was I don't think his body will hold up week after week. I reckon Timani would go great at 6, like Messam but with more power.

 

[Ruggo]

Interested to see who plays 6 for the majority of the season. I doubt it will be McMahon, as impressive as he was I don't think his body will hold up week after week. I reckon Timani would go great at 6, like Messam but with more power.

The other options I see are Higgers to 6 and Tamani to 8 or Neville coming into lock and forcing Jones to 6.

Mute point at the moment though.

 

[qwerty51]

Timani has had problems at the back of the scrum, Higgers is quite good there. Interested to see where Fardy stands in gold if both Higgers and Palu stay fit.

 

[Highlander35]

Timani has had problems at the back of the scrum, Higgers is quite good there. Interested to see where Fardy stands in gold if both Higgers and Palu stay fit.

Covering lock/6 off the bench?

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[wamberal]

Interested to see who plays 6 for the majority of the season. I doubt it will be McMahon, as impressive as he was I don't think his body will hold up week after week. I reckon Timani would go great at 6, like Messam but with more power.

I'd rather see Jones at 6, and Timani at lock. Or Neville.


McMahon is talented, but just does not have the physical presence to play 6 consistently at this level. He is somewhere between a 6 and 7 - a bit like Stephen Hoiles, actually.

We could really use him in the Sevens programme again.

 

[Dave Beat]

The other options I see are Higgers to 6 and Tamani to 8 or Neville coming into lock and forcing Jones to 6.

Mute point at the moment though.

Neville lock, Jones 6

 

[Godfrey]

 

[Tex]

Pig of a bloke.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Timani has had problems at the back of the scrum, Higgers is quite good there. Interested to see where Fardy stands in gold if both Higgers and Palu stay fit.

Fardy is still the incumbent and best 6 for the Wallabies, not far ahead of Jones imo. Higgers and Palu to compete for or share the No8. My preference would be Higgers to start and Palu off the bench if required.

 

[Ash]

Watched a youtube clip of that maul try, and on second / third viewing agree it's truck and trailer. They sheered off from the original maul which went down.

 

[flat_eric]

Not a great crowd. Hopefully with success comes fans but they have a long way to go if they want to compete with the Storm and Victory for crowd numbers.

 

[Dumbledore]

Not a great crowd. Hopefully with success comes fans but they have a long way to go if they want to compete with the Storm and Victory for crowd numbers.

That's definitely the main takeaway from this game.

 

[swingpass]

Not a great crowd. Hopefully with success comes fans but they have a long way to go if they want to compete with the Storm and Victory for crowd numbers.

i think they wont be too disappointed with the crowd. almost 11K for a game against a south african team. the brumbies only got 13k last week and the tahs a disputable 16,00 on a sunday arvo.
if the rebs can win away next week, then we should see 15K + against the crusaders

 

[flat_eric]

That's definitely the main takeaway from this game.

Never said it was. But as 10k crowds are barely sustainable it is a major one.

i think they wont be too disappointed with the crowd. almost 11K for a game against a south african team. the brumbies only got 13k last week and the tahs a disputable 16,00 on a sunday arvo.
if the rebs can win away next week, then we should see 15K + against the crusaders

Just goes to show how poorly rugby is fairing at the moment. Sorry to be so negative.

 

[KevinO]

Never said it was. But as 10k crowds are barely sustainable it is a major one.




Just goes to show how poorly rugby is fairing at the moment. Sorry to be so negative.

First up game against a SA team was never going to draw a crowd.

The worst thing has to be the media profile of the Rebels, how many people outside of Rugby would have known the game was on last night.

Crusaders game in 2 weeks will be interesting, Crowd was 18K in 2012 against them on a Saturday night.

 

[Tex]

Rebs have averaged (by my back-of-envelope calculations) around 14-15k for good games. The smaller SA teams never draw the expats but I reckon the headline matches (Crusaders, Blues, Reds, Tahs) will get some better numbers.

Never underestimate a) the absolute domination AFL has over the market here in Melbourne; and b) how many years of sustained success the Storm enjoyed to get a crowd that's about equal to the Rebels.