Waratahs destroy victory at SCG to extend Melbourne

But the best that can be said about the Waratahs is that they have won a game they have probably lost in recent years.

“There are mixed emotions,” Waratahs coach Darren Coleman said.

“It’s good to be in a winner’s change room and I want the boys to enjoy the win. But it was definitely good short of our best performance and [terms of] our quality and our intensity. Some of our effort areas were not great. It looked a bit like we did not want to win the match, and they could not win the match – they shot themselves in the foot to win the match in the second half.

The Rebels beat themselves after having several chances to take the points in the final 15 minutes, with set-piece errors and Carter Gordon not finding himself late in the game for an attacking lineout. Gordon appears to have been disturbed after the game.

But the Melburnians struggled to reach the attack all night, killing 20 turnovers. The fight in his team, however, made Rebel captain Michael Wells happier than most weeks.

“The scoreboard is definitely closer than the first few weeks,” Wells said.

“We managed to attack more cohesively. Just a few moments like the first NSW try. If we are a team that is close and grinds things out, if we concede seven points in a phase, it will sting us more. like most teams. We are definitely getting better. “

The Warathahs led 14-6 after exposing their chances in a high but sloppy opening half of both teams to a maximum.

The Rebels first came on board with a penalty from the seventh minute to To’omua, but the Waratahs had the first shot on the line over the line as Dave Porecki narrowly missed with a pick and drive is, just to rule briefly.

To’omua left the field for a HIA and his replacement Gordon immediately made an impact, and it was not good for the Rebels. He missed a one-on-one tackle on Lalakai Foketi from a set-piece attack, and the hard-running center ran 30 yards and shot Joe Powell for 14 minutes.

Both teams liked to shoot the ball out of their own half, but the visitors had the better of the battle and shot again after getting territory from many rebel mistakes and Will Harrison’s boots.

Attacks on phase play gave the Waratahs an overlap through a beautiful pass from Bell and Will Harris carried two players for 10 yards to get across the line.

It looked like the Waratahs were going to run away with it, but the rebels got stuck and held their hand with a lot of relief. Their passes, however, were seldom fixed, and they released the Warathahs from the hook.

After a fine move down the middle To’omua nearly gave the home side a goal after 27 minutes. The finishing shot went just wide, though.

The Rebels got closer to Oranges with the help of another 45m boomer from To’omua, and with the Rebels’ disruptive defensive lineout, which put many doubts in the NSW attack, the Warathahs also decided for the pieces soon after. . To’omua were given a gift! The ref dubiously awarded them a penalty 53 minutes into the match, which was neatly put away by Izzy Perese.

They paid a price right away as the Tahs shot a third, with drives from Alex Newsome and the Waratahs finding the missing defender by turning the ball wide after a penalty kick. They led 24-12, but it was the rebels who were eliminated.

Finally, holding the ball for long periods, the Rebels began to tire of defending the Waratahs and they camped in the NSW half. A free kick aimed at the keeper’s far post almost gave Eloff the lead 66 minutes in, but the ball just wasn’t able to squirm its way through the defensive wall.

But just as they looked ready to cause a stir, the Rebels’ error rates came back to haunt them and errors in the lineup cost them valuable chances to score.