Rebels coach slams errors
the corner for his second try in as many weeks.
Ioane returned, with the ledger even, and then saw his side double its try tally 13 minutes from the break when the Blues did well to work 10 phases and provide Matt Duffie with the space to squeeze between two tacklers and reach out for an important five-pointer.
Perofeta added a tricky penalty five minutes out, but the home side’s most significant period probably came in time added on when they dug in to repel the Jaguares who took a string of scrums off penalty options, but could not breach the line when it mattered.
Then it all changed. The Jaguares owned the third quarter and took a firm grip on the match via second-half tries to wonder wing Emiliano Boffelli and replacement loose forward Tomas Lezana. The visitors more or less camped up in the Blues half, and their territorial dominance was rewarded when Boffelli cashed in on a fine break from De la Fuente and went over out wide for his ninth try of the season, and seventh in the last seven matches.
Eight minutes later Lezana was over, following more splendid work from De la Fuente, for the 17-13 lead, that became 20-13 soon after when Nicolas Sanches banged over a penalty. MELBOURNE Rebels coach Dave Wessels will look to address his team’s disciplinary issues after their tour of South Africa came to a frustrating end in Cape Town yesterday.
A string of first-half penalties saw the Rebels fall behind early against the Stormers at Newlands, eventually going down 34-18 for a fourth successive Super Rugby loss.
The result extended the Melbourne franchise’s winless record in the Republic to 15 matches.
Wessels pinpointed discipline and poor set-piece execution as the key areas of the game where the Rebels faltered against the Stormers.
‘‘It’s been a perpetual problem right through the whole season,’’ he said about his team’s lack of discipline.