Match Centre: Force 7-10 Rebels

Force 7-10 Rebels, HBF Park
Scorecard

Melbourne Rebels managed to overcome red card to Ross Haylett-Petty as they edged out Western Force 10-7 in the fourth round of Super Rugby AU at HBF Park.

This is Rebels' maiden win in this season in three matches as they move to the third position in the table with six points while Force are at fourth place with five points.

The Rebels dominated the early possession and came close to score the opening try in the 10th minute following a rolling maul but TMO ruled out Joshua Kemeny's efforts. Force had their chance to open their account but a kick from Jake McIntyre went wide .
The deadlock eventually ended in the 27th minute when Lachlan Anderson capitalised on a long pass to score his first try of the season that took Rebels to a 0-5 lead.

As the break was approaching, Force went for the attack kicking the ball to touch but stern defence from Rebels ensured the the home side remained scoreless in the opening half.

Marika Koroibete looked dangerous creating opportunities for Rebels and his effort paid off when he brushed away tackles from Force defenders to offload Joe Powell, who in turn dotted down in the 62nd minute but Matt Toomua's conversion went wide as they increased their lead to 0-10.

The breakthrough for Force eventually came in the 69th minute when Jack McGregor dived in the corner and Ian Prior improved it reducing the gap down to three points.

Rebels suffered a major setback when they lost lock Ross Haylett-Petty to red card for a dangerous tackle in the 70th minute following which the play was briefly held up due to a floodlight failure. When play resumed, Force looked for a desperate breakthrough but were kept out from scoring by resolute defence from Rebels as they completed a three-point victory.

Team line-up:

Western Force: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Byron Ralston, 13 Tevita Kuridrani. 12 Richard Kahui, 11 Marcel Brache, 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Brynard Stander, 7 Kane Koteka, 6 Fergus Lee-Warner, 5 Ryan McCauley, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Feleti Kaitu'u, 1 Tom Robertson

Reserves: 16 Jack Winchester, 17 Angus Wagner, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Ian Prior, 22 Henry Taefu, 23 Jack McGregor

Melbourne Rebels: 15 Tom Pincus, 14 Lachlan Anderson, 13 Stacey Ili, 12 Reece Hodge, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Joe Powell, 8 Michael Wells, 7 Richard Hardwick, 6 Joshua Kemeny, 5 Trevor Hosea, 4 Ross Haylett-Petty, 3 Pone Faamausili, 2 James Hanson, 1 Cabous Eloff

Reserves: 16 Ed Craig, 17 Isaac Aedo Kailea, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Steve Cummins, 20 Thomas Nowlan, 21 James Tuttle , 22 Glen Vaihu, 23 Frank Lomani