Rebels hold on to deny Highlanders

The Rebels continued their fine start to the Super Rugby season courtesy of a 24-19 victory over the Highlanders in Melbourne on Friday.

The home side were made to work hard for their win as the Highlanders had them under pressure during the game’s closing stages but the visitors could not pull off the win.

In the end, the Rebels were rewarded with four tries, with Tom English leading the way with a brace, while their other five-pointers were scored by Jack Maddocks and Bill Meakes. Quade Cooper, who impressed with his playmaking skills again, succeeded with two conversions.

Shannon Frizell, Siate Tokolahi and Jackson Hemopo scored tries for the Highlanders while Bryn Gatland and Marty Banks slotted a conversion apiece.

The Highlanders raced into a 5-0 lead when Frizell gathered a cross-field kick from Gatland inside the Rebels’ 22 before crossing for the opening try in the third minute.

The Rebels did not take long to respond, however, and took the lead via a converted try from English, before the visitors struck back when Tokolahi dotted down off the back of a lineout drive deep inside Rebels’ territory.

In the 26th minute, Cooper showed his class when he bamboozled defenders with an excellent sleight of hand to throw an inside pass to Maddocks, who went over for the Rebels’ second try.

And on the half-hour mark, English dotted down again which meant the home side held a 19-12 lead at half-time.

The second half started brightly for the home side and three minutes after the restart, Cooper delivered a teasing grubber kick deep inside the Highlanders’ 22 which Gatland failed to deal with. Meakes was on hand to scoop up the bouncing ball before diving over for his side’s fourth try.

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The next 20 minutes was an arm wrestle but the Highlanders were eventually rewarded when Hemopo dotted down in the 64th minute and Banks added the extras to narrow the gap to four points.

The Highlanders upped the ante on attack and thought they had drawn level when Frizell went over the tryline in the 79th minute but television replays revealed he lost the ball while crossing the whitewash.

That proved to be their last attacking opportunity as the Rebels’ defence held firm during the game’s closing stages.

Earlier, the Hurricanes returned to the victory trail courtesy of a 43-13 victory over the Brumbies in Palmerston North.

The Brumbies came into this match on the back of an impressive win over the Chiefs in Canberra last weekend but they were no match for the Hurricanes, who outscored them by six tries to one with Ngani Laumape scoring a deserved hat-trick.

The home side’s other tries were scored by Dane Coles (2) and James Blackwell while Beauden Barrett (4) and Jackson Garden-Bachop kicked conversions and Barrett also added a penalty.

For the Brumbies, Folau Fainga’a and Tom Wright dotted down and Christian Lealiifano added a conversion.