Heartbreak for Rebels as ‘hurting’ players deal with club’s death after loss

The Melbourne Rebels’ era has ended in heartbreak as the Rebels fell to the storming Hurricanes in their Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final on Saturday afternoon in Wellington, the “hurting” players forming an emotional huddle in the aftermath of the loss.

With the curtain coming down on the financially stricken club after it was closed by Rugby Australia, the final moment after the 47-20 loss was met with high emotion from the club’s players and loyal supporters who travelled to New Zealand.

The Rebels form a huddle at the end of their final Super Rugby game.Credit: Getty Images

The club’s first final was, perversely, their only final across 14 seasons, and an emotional Lachie Anderson reflected post-match on the rollercoaster all those connected with the club had experienced.

“We have a pretty loyal supporter base down in Victoria. And I think we saw that tonight with the amount of people who travelled over here,” Anderson told Stan Sport.

“We spoke about putting a performance in that we could make the whole state proud of. I think we did that tonight.

“It’s a pretty tight group but, as you can expect, there’s a fair few boys hurting at the moment.”

The Rebels followed the same path as Queensland, who were ousted by the Chiefs in their quarter-final on Friday night.

Anderson scored a late double but it was too little too late, with the Hurricanes bagging five second-half tries to secure an emphatic win.

“This club has been some of the best years of my career,” said Anderson, 26, with his voice wavering.

“It’s a special group of lads. We’ve been together now for three or four years.

Final yelp: Devan Flanders of the Hurricanes scores a try.Credit: Getty Images

“We spoke about playing a brand of rugby that gets people excited, and anyone who has supported us the last two, three, four years, [have] seen that.”

He said the playing cohort had focused on the right way of writing the club’s “last chapter” – whenever that occurred in the Super Rugby finals.

“So whenever that was – today, next week or the final – we spoke about we get to finish it how we want. You saw the passion in that performance tonight, the first 20 minutes especially.

“I’m very proud of the boys, and the adversity we faced on and off the field, and the way we stuck together.”

Melbourne threw everything at the Hurricanes early on, and unsettled the home side with their rushing defence.

They became the first team this season to stop the Hurricanes scoring a try in the opening 20 minutes, twice holding the home side up over the line with some desperate defence.

But the Rebels’ 3-0 lead evaporated four minutes later when prop Pasilio Tosi barrelled over the line.

Another Rebels penalty closed the gap to 7-6, but twice Carter Gordon failed to find touch with clearing kicks and the Hurricanes went into halftime up 14-6, with centre Joshua Moorby finding a hole to score in the 39th minute.

Filipo Daugunu and Lachie Anderson of the Rebels react at the final whistle.Credit: Getty Images

The Wellington men also struck first in the second half, with All Black centre Jordie Barrett slipping out of a Rob Leota tackle before finding No.8 Brayden Iose.

Two more tries within three minutes meant there was a mountain to climb for the Rebels, with the lead out to 35-6 after 57 minutes.

Anderson finally opened the Rebels’ try-scoring account in the 65th minute when he ran on to an off-load from his skipper Leota.

He was in again two minutes later after a charging run by reserve Melbourne back-rower Vaiolini Ekuasi.

Two late Hurricanes tries, scored by reserves Du’Plessis Kirifi and Kini Naholo, meant the scoreline blew out, with their team marching on to next week’s semi-finals.

AAP, with Scott Spits

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