April 14, 2021

Indian & World Live Breaking News Coverage And Updates

Indian & World Live Breaking News Coverage And Updates

Conquering the unknown motivating the Rebels in Super Rugby AU

Share This :


Melbourne Rebels coach Dave Wessels knows that if his side can make the Super Rugby AU final this season — or even better, win it — the way his team has dealt with the deja vu feeling of playing a domestic competition on the road will have been a major factor.

“Yeah, definitely, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” he told ABC Sport this week, from his team’s home-away-from-home base in Canberra.

“We were disappointed not to get our first win against the Reds (last weekend in Brisbane), we feel like we let a chance slip there.

“And that’s what we’re chasing right now, we just want to win one game, and then once we’ve won that one, we’ll try to win two games, and then three games.

“Right now, the focus is on trying to beat a very good Brumbies team who are playing very good at home.”

After spending the entire 2020 Super Rugby AU season on the road, it’s been another rough start to this season’s campaign for the Rebels.

It was one thing to face both finalists from last year — still the overwhelming favourites in 2021 — in their first two games, but then they were confronted with the immediate need to get out of Victoria as the state entered its snap lockdown on Friday, February 12.

The day ended very differently to the overnight team camping trip Wessels had planned. Where he thought the team would “play the guitar around the fire and have a few beers”, they instead had to make for the Victoria-New South Wales border on just two hours’ notice.

“They had to get home, and some of them were probably an hour away from home, had to get home and pack and then immediately get in their cars and drive and try to hit the border before it closed at midnight.

“And to be honest, we weren’t sure where we were going to stay.

Melbourne Rebels haven’t played a home game at AAMI Park in over a year.(

AAP: Dan Peled

)

The Rebels had seen this movie before, having faced exactly the same scenario last year, a move which allowed the hastily arranged Super Rugby AU competition to get off the ground.

It was so similar this time around that Wessels copped a bit of grief when he delivered the news.

“Yeah, it’s funny, because they told us we were going to be gone for five days last year, and of course, we were away for three months.

“This time when we left, they told us it was going to be five days again, so when I announced this to the team, there was a bit of mirth and laughter from the team.”

Rushed planning and logistics on the run have become something of a Rebels specialty, and Wessels explains that moving 65 players, staff, and some partners at a moment’s notice is “nothing like booking a hotel online for a weekend with your wife”.

Personal stories are littered throughout the squad and the sacrifices made have become motivators.

Not all partners could make the trip, with plenty of families — including Wessels’s own — still juggling school commitments. Some members of the squad didn’t get to see their kids before fleeing the state, while one of the club’s physiotherapists was due to be married the weekend the squad had to shift to Canberra.

Thankfully, the travelling squad and the families left at home have been getting great support from the Melbourne Rebels organisation, and from Rugby Australia.

Rebels coach questions interstate rules

Loading

“We’ve managed the expectation of our kids and families, and just told them we’ll be home when we can be home, and that sort of thing. It feels like things are looking a lot better in Melbourne, because there’s been no cases for a while,” Wessels said.

But interstate politics is never far away when it comes to border closures, and the Rebels coach raises some reasonable questions when it comes to those interstate decisions impacting rugby.

“If we’re not allowed into Queensland for whatever reason, why is that the problem of the Melbourne Rebels?” he asked.

“Why is that not the problem of the Queensland Reds? And if we can’t get into Western Australia, why is that not the problem of the Western Force?

“Why are we the team that has to be on the road, when our borders are open to other states? We can travel freely to many parts of Australia, and yet we’re the team that’s forced to go on the road again.

“Probably the Reds, and certainly the Brumbies and Waratahs have not really had to worry about much discomfort at all over the last few months, whereas we’ve only had one training session this year at our home base of AAMI Park.

“The rest of the time, we’re having to use other facilities, make a plan, extra travel, all this other stuff.

, Conquering the unknown motivating the Rebels in Super Rugby AU, Indian & World Live Breaking News Coverage And Updates
Melbourne Rebels remain in good spirits despite being on the road for another year.(

Facebook: Melbourne Rebels

)

As it stands, it’s still only the Rebels and Force to have been impacted by state borders closing.

After both teams spent all of the 2020 season based in Canberra or along the New South Wales north coast, and the Rebels were forced back on the road at the start of this season, the Force also had to delay a pre-season match against the Brumbies by a few days, to allow them to get back into Western Australia safely.

The Brumbies and Rebels also swapped their rounds three and nine matches, to allow the Rebels to safely travel to Perth in round four after being in Canberra, rather than Melbourne.

Some forward planning and many crossed fingers saw 17 players and staff — not needed for the Perth trip — head back to Melbourne this week, partially solving the problem of getting upwards of 30 cars from the national capital back to the Victorian capital.

They all hope to reunite in Melbourne in less than a fortnight.

Playing for the big ‘V’

“There’s little personal stories around it. But I’m also mindful of the fact that we’ve got a great job. I mean we stay in a great hotel, we’ve got some really good people on our team and we enjoy spending some time together, and that sort of stuff,” Wessels said.

“We’re certainly not sitting around feeling too sorry for ourselves, it is what it is, we’ve got to get over it, and certainly the teams that we’re playing don’t really care. We’ve just got to deal with them and perform well.”

He said the team was not just confident about getting the job done against the high-flying, try-scoring Brumbies this weekend, but of going further than losing the qualifying final to Queensland last season.

“Everyone really just wants that first win for each other. The boys are all making these sacrifices and we want to play for each other.

“And everybody’s watching us from Melbourne. We haven’t played at home for more than a year now, and we just want people to watch us on TV or wherever and know that we’re representing them, and just be proud of the way we play.

“It means a lot to these guys.”

Super Rugby AU — Round 3

Friday: New South Wales Waratahs v Western Force, Sydney 7:45pm AEDT

Saturday: Brumbies v Melbourne Rebels, Canberra 7:45pm AEDT

Queensland Reds have the bye.



Source link

Share This :