Super Rugby AU: Queensland Reds defeat Melbourne Rebels in qualifying final 25-13

The Queensland Reds have reached their first grand final since 2011, beating the Melbourne Rebels 25-13.

The Queensland Reds’ Taniela Tupou makes a pass during the Rugby AU preliminary final match against the Melbourne Rebels on Saturday. Picture: Patrick Hamilton/AFP

The Queensland Reds are through to their first grand final since 2011, clinically taking their chances in a Super Rugby AU qualifying final at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday night in which their opponents, the Melbourne Rebels, squandered opportunity after opportunity.

“I’m devastated for the boys,” Melbourne coach Dave Wessels said.

“I thought they played with a lot of courage as they have done the whole competition but it was a game of opportunities,’’ Wessels said.

“That’s what finals football is about, so real credit to the Queensland Reds. They’ve played well the last couple of weeks and we knew we had to play well today.”

The Reds pretty much squeezed every point out of their wholehearted performance, winning 25-13 to set up a clash with the Brumbies next Saturday in Canberra – where they will play, apparently, for the trophy normally awarded to the Australian conference winner in regular Super Rugby.

The Rebels, who have spent the entire season on the road, could not quite get the composure they needed in their very first playoff match, blowing tries to Andrew Kellaway, Isi Nairarani and Marika Koroibete.

The Koroibete no try, in the 60th minute, effectively summed up their night. They had the Reds defence shot to pieces but centre Billy Meakes’ pass out to his winger was forward, only marginally but the markings on the field certainly highlighted the mistake.

Had Melbourne scored at that point, the scores almost certainly would have been levelled at 20-20 and would have set up an epic final quarter.

Instead, it was the Reds who built on their seven-point lead, as replacement five-eighth Bryce Hegarty threw an inside ball to Taniela Tupou running an astonishing line, most especially for a tighthead prop in the 75th minute.

Tupou speared through – and yes, the inside pass did look suspiciously forward, as those passes always do – and then found winger Filipo Daugunu waiting out wide to finish off the move and the Rebels.

Koroibete chased him hard, as he had done all night, but it may have been a timely meeting of the men who in a month’s time might well be filling the two wing berths for the Wallabies against the All Blacks in New Zealand.

“I know a lot of props who like to think they can do those types of things but Taniela actually does them,” said an understated yet understandably happy Reds coach, Brad Thorn.

“That wasn’t the prettiest of games and it certainly wasn’t one of our best. You are trying to make a grand final and it’s 10-all at halftime. Sometimes those are the types of games you learn most from.”

Worryingly, a number of Wallaby contenders were forced off on the night. Test outside centre Jordan Petaia was the first to depart, nursing a head knock from which he did not return. Reds winger Chris Feauai-Sautia was next to go, having suffered a groin injury, while inside centre Hamish Stewart also went off after taking a battering but, unexpectedly, returned to the play for the final 60 seconds.

The Rebels suffered severe casualties themselves.

Captain Dane Haylett-Petty was attempting to run the ball up from fullback when he suddenly stopped and went to ground. He had preserved the ball but it looked as though his injured knee, which only recently allowed him to return to the game, had gone again.

Vice-captain Matt Toomua, who had worked tremendously all night, was forced off with a groin injury while World Cup hooker Jordan Uelese cut a forlorn figure as he used his jersey as a makeshift sling after suffering an apparent AC injury on the hour mark.

Australian coach Dave Rennie will name his inaugural Wallabies side on Sunday and suddenly, on top of all his other distractions, he now had a swag of injuries to monitor.

A stunning try right on the stroke of halftime by Koroibete ensured the Rebels got some just rewards for all their hard work throughout the first half.

Indeed, given the fact that the Reds’ only try came through a Jordan Petaia intercept – swooping onto a Toomua pass and then sprinting 70m – 10-10 at the break was probably a fair reflection on how the play had unfolded.

The Rebels looked to have struck first when a Toomua crosskick in the seventh minute landed right in the lap of winger Andrew Kellaway but his foot just stepped into touch in the act of attempting to ground the ball over the line.

One minute later, Toomua blotted his copy book with the errant pass to Petaia but generally speaking he was marshalling the Rebels attack with consistency and flair.

He did in fact contribute significantly to the Koroibete try, switching play in the midfield and with flanker Brad Wilkin hitting the play up directly, the Reds were suddenly short of their pillar defence as Koroibete did his now customary trick of getting in front of the ball and then reaching back to catch the Queenslanders napping as he sped away.

Moments earlier, however, the Rebels butchered another try when No 8 Isi Naisarani did brilliantly to charge down a James O’Connor clearing kick from behind his own line.

He didn’t rush it, waiting for the ball to bounce. It’s a dangerous thing to do, given the perverse nature of the rugby ball, and sure enough the ball scuttled straight over the dead-ball line as Naisarani watched helplessly.

Still, the Reds had their moments, and as they grew in confidence the offloads began to flow. And not just the offloads but the deft passes, the Queenslanders time and again just getting the ball away before the heavy tackle arrived.

That said, one of their best opportunities came from an opportunistic O’Connor left-footed chip kick. Fullback Jock Campbell plucked the ball out of the hands of Dane Haylett-Petty but his pass off the deck to a flying Petaia was spilled forward in the desperate tackle of Reece Hodge.

It came as no surprise that the Rebels scored just before the halftime break. They looked like a team desperately hanging out for a breather, just as they had done when they let the Brumbies score last week on the interval.

Thorn was happy with the halftime talk, from all participants and the Reds hit the second half running with a try just five minutes after the restart – Hunter Paisami taking the half break and feeding Daugunu, who recognised that he could not make the corner but second-rower Lukhan Salakai-Loto most certainly could. That gave them an upper hand they never really relinquished.

Reece Hodge’s long-range goal did close the gap to 17-13 but within three minutes O’Connor had restored the seven-point advantage, with a little help from the right-hand goalpost, and there the margin remained until Tupou and Daugunu settled the issue five minutes from fulltime.

The Rebels emerged from the first half with a points lead in the scrum but Tupou returned to full power in the second, aided by the arrival of JP Smith at loosehead, and by fulltime the Queensland scrum was humming smoothly, a serious threat in the making for the Brumbies.