Superb Highlanders see off Rebels
Defending champions the Otago Highlanders cruised to a bonus point 27-3 win over the Melbourne Rebels in their Super Rugby clash at Melbourne yesterday.
A week after downing the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney, the Highlanders outmuscled the Rebels to score three tries to none on a wet night in the Victorian capital. The Highlanders’ defence was superb throughout as they kept their tryline intact, making 119 tackles, missing only nine and forcing a host of turnovers from the Rebels.
They kicked brilliantly, with their first two tries coming courtesy of well-placed kicks behind the Rebels’ line. “It was an awesome way to finish (the two-match tour of Australia) — we wanted to put in an 80-minute performance and I think we did that tonight,” Highlanders co-captain Shane Christie said.
“We’ll now head back home and look forward to the Force next week. We’ve had an awesome couple of weeks on the road and it will be nice to get back home.” Otago dominated right from the start and opened the scoring thanks to a Lima Musophaga penalty.
They crossed for the first try midway through the first half when Rebels fullback Jonah Placid spilled an Aaron Smith box kick and inside centre Rob Thompson towed ahead to touch down. Sopoaga converted to bring up his 500th point in Super Rugby, then brought up three more with a second penalty to send the Highlanders into the break up 130. Rebels flyhalf Jack Debreczeni kicked a penalty early in the second half but the Highlanders extended their lead when Jack Wilson crossed following a Thompson kick ahead.
The Rebels threw everything at the Highlanders but could not break the defence and they were left shattered when winger Pat Osborne took an intercept 10 metres from his own line and raced the length of the field to touch down in the corner.
Rebels captain Sean McMahon conceded his team had been outplayed. “The Highlanders came out and performed at top quality as you’d expect from a championship team,” McMahon said. “All credit to our boys but we just let a few things go. “They were coming hard at us-our defence was good but we turned too many balls over.
“They’re great at counterattack and you could see what they did to us when they got the opportunity.” The Highlanders now head back to Dunedin where they will host the Western Force, who were thrashed 53-10 by the Waikato Chiefs earlier yesterday.