Wallaby showdown: Quade Cooper v James O'Connor
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The Reds claimed a hard-fought 23-13 Super Rugby win over the Rebels in Friday's Australian derby in Melbourne.
The Reds touched down on either side of half time at AAMI Park to outscore the Rebels by two tries to one and secure their fifth straight win over their Aussie rivals .
For the third consecutive week, the Rebels led at half time (13-10) but were shut out in the second half as the Reds dominated after the interval.
The Reds took the early lead when inside centre Ben Tapuai stepped past opposite number Lachlan Mitchell to score the opening try. Quade Cooper added the extras to go with an earlier penalty to put the visitors 10-3 ahead after a quarter of an hour.
The rest of the half saw plenty of industrious play but few clear scoring opportunities.
Rebels fly-half James O'Connor narrowed the gap from the kicking tee before Mitchell made amends for his missed tackle on the verge of half time when he crossed in the corner. O'Connor's conversion gave the Rebels a three-point lead at the break.
The 2011 champions regained the advantage almost immediately after the restart however when scrum-half Nick Frisby finished of a well-worked try featuring Anthony Faingaa and Digby Ioane in the build up.
A couple of penalties from Cooper secured a third consecutive victory for the Reds and denied the hosts a losing bonus point, leaving the Rebels level with the Force at the bottom of the Australian conference while the team from Queensland are second, behind the Brumbies.
The scorers:
For Rebels:
Try: Mitchell
Con: O'Connor
Pens: O'Connor 2
For Reds:
Tries: Tapuai, Frisby
Cons: Cooper 2
Pens: Cooper 3
Rebels: 15 Angus Roberts, 14 Richard Kingi, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Lachlan Mitchell, 11 Alex Rokobaro, 10 James O'Connor (c), 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Scott Fuglistaller, 6 Luke Jones, 5 Cadeyrn Neville, 4 Hugh Pyle, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 Shota Horie, 17 Paul Alo-Emile, 18 Jordy Reid, 19 Jarrod Saffy, 20 Nic Stirzaker, 21 Rory Sidey, 22 Tom English.
Reds: 15 Jono Lance, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Anthony Faingaa, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Nick Frisby, 8 Jake Schatz, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Ed Quirk, 5 Ed O'Donoghue, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 James Slipper, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Albert Anae, 18 Adam Wallace-Harrison, 19 Radike Samo, 20 Ben Lucas, 21 Mike Harris, 22 Chris Feauai-Sautia.
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
Referee: Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)
Assistant referees: James Leckie (Australia), Ed Martin (Australia)
Television match official: George Ayoub (Australia)
Comments
ferdie says...
GCP_jones - thinking about the Argentine players, I'd think it would be such a salary drop for them compared to what Europe can offer.
Posted 06:16 09th March 2013
Startledwombat says...
Some commentary in these parts that TV referee George Ayoub's reversal of a penalty that the ref on the field had awarded, was the turning point that kept the Reds on top for the win.
but before nominating the on field ref and the two touch judges for a mention in PR's ' Not Hot' due to missing whatever it was that the bloke in front of the TV screen saw:
but in fairness it was an Argentine ref who is on a development program
Posted 05:41 09th March 2013
trappa says...
I hate kicking at the best of times, but the Rebs (and others) still fall into the trap of kicking for goal as the 1st option at penalty. They aren't yet a good enough side to rely on 3 points getting them home.Why not retain possession, which automatically limits the oppositions time with the ball and have a crack at 7 points. JOC's 4 penalty attempts netted 6 points but the hard work getting down that end of the paddock then saw them back in their 22 from the kick-offs. Had they opted for lineouts, scrums or taps the possibility was at least 7 points and the ball in hand for goodness knows how long. Long-term this tires out the opposition and builds confidence for further tries. Can any readers please convince me otherwise and end my frustration...
Posted 23:20 08th March 2013
GCP_jones says...
Thanks Ferdie...
Posted 15:41 08th March 2013
ferdie says...
GCP_jones - Rebels were permitted up to 10 overseas player when they started, think it has to reduce each year till they're same as other Australian sides (limit of two). This year's squad shows 7 foreign players - 1 from Japan, 1 from Wales, 1 from Fiji, and 4 from NZ.
Presume after 3yrs residency they then qualify as locals, same as an international would.
i may be wrong.
Posted 13:24 08th March 2013
GCP_jones says...
Are the rebels allowed to have more foreign based players than the other aussie teams?, if they are they should start looking at signing some of the Puma's players.
Posted 11:04 08th March 2013