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Damian McKenzie breaks Rebels' hearts in possible farewell home match

Angelo Smith and Tuaina Taii Tualima of the Rebels look on after the Rebels were defeated by the Chiefs during the round 13 Super Rugby Pacific match between Melbourne Rebels and Chiefs at AAMI Park, on May 17, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Melbourne’s last Super Rugby Pacific home game – potentially ever – has ended on a heartbreaking note with the Rebels falling to the Chiefs 26-23.

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Star Chiefs playmaker Damian McKenzie slotted a penalty in the 78th minute to split a 23-all deadlock to secure the win.

The Rebels welcomed their largest crowd of the season to AAMI Park for the Friday night match with their future in the competition in major doubt.

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Rugby Australia are still to decide whether to shutter the financially-stricken club, whose fans turned out in force to honour the side.

In traditional Melbourne fashion, the team ran through a banner that read: “Thank you Melbourne, Always Rebels, Always Fighting”.

Match Summary

2
Penalty Goals
4
3
Tries
2
1
Conversions
2
0
Drop Goals
0
100
Carries
103
7
Line Breaks
4
11
Turnovers Lost
10
6
Turnovers Won
5

The crowd were encouraged to stand and cheer at the 14th minute of the match to celebrate the 14 seasons the club has been in the competition.

After an early Chiefs penalty goal, they got off to a strong start with young winger Glen Vaihu crossing in the sixth minute.

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The teams traded points in the first half, with the visitors having the final say as McKenzie nailed a 41st minute penalty goal for a 13-11 lead into the break.

Sitting fourth on the ladder, two spots above Melbourne, the Chiefs extended their advantage five minutes into the second half through hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho.

The Chiefs lost lock Tupou Vaa’i to a yellow card for an incidental head knock on Rebels five-eighth Carter Gordon, who also left the field temporarily but was cleared in his HIA.

The visitors extended the lead to 23-11 through another McKenzie penalty before Melbourne got back into the contest when winger Lachie Anderson scored in the 56th minute.

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He added his second in the 73rd minute to set up a grandstand finish, locking the scoreboard up at 23-all until McKenzie’s killer blow from a breakdown penalty.

Despite their fourth straight loss the Rebels’ season isn’t over. They still have a chance to make their first finals appearance, with a bonus point from this match likely to prove crucial.

However, they face tough away games against the ACT Brumbies and Fijian Drua to secure their spot.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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