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Rebels season on the precipice after Bulls triumph in Melbourne

The Bulls' Rosko Specman causing all sorts of problems for the Rebels. (Photo by Kelly Defina / Getty Images)

A two-haul by Marika Koroibete wasn’t enough to save the Melbourne Rebels from a disappointing 32-17 loss to the Bulls, which blew their chance to regain the Australian Super Rugby conference lead.

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The Rebels went into the Friday night match just a point behind the Brumbies, who had the bye this round, but were unable to capitalise on the golden chance on home turf at AAMI Park.

The loss means the Rebels can finish the week in eight place on the overall ladder at best. The Lions, Stormers and Reds are all within five points of the Victorians with a game and could surpass the Rebels before the weekend comes to a close.

Rebels coach Dave Wessels refused to concede it was a large dent in their season, however, and said there was still “a lot of rugby to be played”.

“First half we played quite well – we played with a lot of tempo and played in the right areas of the field and I thought we created some pressure and I was feeling really good at halftime,” Wessels said.

“Second half for whatever reason we moved away from doing those things and we gave the Bulls a lot of the type of possession that they enjoy, their forward pack started to get a rumble on and that was the game.

“It was a frustrating night for us.”

Melbourne dominated everywhere – possession and territory – except for where it counted, on the scoreboard.

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Too often an attacking error proved their undoing in a frustrating affair while the Bulls made the most of their limited opportunities to continue the Rebels losing run against South African opponents this season.

Koroibete scored a try in each half to double his tally for the season in his best performance of the year.

Wessels said Koroibete always worked hard and he was glad to see him get the recognition he deserved.

“He often does a lot of the donkey work because he’s a winger who is really brave in contact and accelerates into it,” he said.

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“He’s a world class winger for me and he plays with such intensity all the time.”

Pushing his case for World Cup selection, the Wallabies winger was fired up from the opening whistle in a niggly contest against the men from Pretoria, who return to the top of the tightly-contest ed South African conference.

Koroibete opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Quade Cooper found Dane Haylett-Petty, who managed to pop a pass for the burly winger.

In a bizarre opening half Melbourne had 72 per cent of possession, 76 per cent of territory and had 84 runs to 27 yet trailed 17-12 and it proved an ongoing theme for the match.

Koroibete’s second try, which came from a pick and go into the corner, levelled the score three minutes into the second half but they were unable to add to their tally from there.

Bulls winger Rosko Specman set up a try for Burger Odendaal and then scored one of his own as the visitors opened up a commanding lead.

Rebels star recruit Matt Toomua got on to the field in the 71st minute for his first appearance since arriving from UK club Leicester, but with Melbourne on the back foot he didn’t have a chance to make an impact.

– AAP

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Nickers 28 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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