The Melbourne Rebels have defeated the NSW Waratahs 27-21 at Allianz Stadium in front of 11,445 loyal fans.
NSW were dealt several injury blows prior to kick-off, with Wallabies prop Angus Bell out with a back complaint, Charlie Gamble an issue with his calf, and Ned Hanigan with a troublesome knee.
The trio’s withdrawals saw young prop Jack Barrett and Sione Misiloi make their Super Rugby Pacific debuts, whilst Hugh Sinclair reverted to openside flanker and Fergus Lee-Warner was recalled into the starting line-up.
Waratahs Head Coach Darren Coleman refused to blame the injuries for the defeat though.
“Injuries are no excuse,” Coleman said. “We should still have won that game.
“That was a hard loss to take.”
Melbourne opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Ryan Louwrens took a quick tap and scythed up the centre of the field. When in space, the halfback kicked ahead and when Jake Gordon fumbled the ball coming back in cover defence, Louwrens regained the ball before sending winger Lachie Anderson over to score.
Five minutes later, the Waratahs hit back when short passing between the forwards and the backs stretched Melbourne’s defence midfield. A sublime offload from prop Tom Ross put Lachlan Swinton into open space. The blindside flanker then showed tremendous pace to score adjacent to the uprights.
Tane Edmed converted to level scores.
Off the ensuing restart, Dylan Pietsch nearly put the Waratahs in front when he raced 60 metres down the left-hand touchline only to lose the ball forward just metres before the tryline when met with the Rebels' cover defence.
Eight minutes before half-time, Sinclair was issued a yellow card when he was deemed to have tackled Anderson high. Rebels flyhalf Carter Gordon subsequently slotted a penalty goal to give the visitors a 10-7 lead at half-time.
NSW started the second stanza well and on the back of an intercept by Langi Gleeson, a precision kick by Joey Walton nearly saw Pietsch again score after a spirited chase, but the ball failed to land in his grasp.
After applying a mountain of pressure on the Rebels defensive line, the Tahs finally broke through. A lovely short ball from replacement halfback Jack Grant saw Gleeson storm over from close range.
Unfortunately for NSW, Melbourne regained the lead with back-to-back tries to debutant Darby Lancaster and the powerful Taniela Tupou.
The Waratahs refused to give up however and sent the match into a grandstand finish.
In his first Super Rugby game in 707 days, Will Harrison sliced through, offloaded to Misiloi, who then found Grant in support. Harrison’s conversion reduced the Waratahs' deficit to just one point.
Alas, outside centre Filipo Daugunu crossed on the stroke of full-time to seal a 27-21 victory for Melbourne.
“It was a disappointing result,” Jake Gordon said.
“It was back and forth throughout the game and once again we put ourselves in a position to compete, but it was a pretty poor finish.
"We are competing but we want to be a good team and good teams ice those games.
Melbourne Rebels 27
Tries: Lachie Anderson, Darby Lancaster, Taniela Tupou, Filipo Daugunu
Goals: Carter Gordon 2/4
Penalty Goals: Carter Gordon 1/1
NSW Waratahs 21
Tries: Lachlan Swinton, Langi Gleeson, Jack Grant
Goals: Tane Edmed 2/2, Will Harrison 1/1
Crowd: 11,445
