Waratahs give the Melbourne Rebels an early wake-up call

Another busy weekend has come to an end so while we try to bring you the best clips from around the world of rugby, here’s a start with short highlights from the Melbourne Rebels’ first ever game in Super Rugby, a heavy 43-0 loss to the New South Wales Waratahs.

In their first season, the Melbourne Rebels were given a harsh wake up call as the scratch side will now realise what they’re up against. While they started well early on, things soon went downhill as the Waratahs, who by all accounts look the strongest Australian team, showed their class with top performances from their Wallabies.

The likes of Kurtley Beale, Drew Mitchell, and Berrick Barnes were simply too much for the tournament newcomers, who had former England flyhalf Danny Cirpriani make an early appearance off the bench that was forced through injury.

Starting flyhalf James Hildendorf is out for six weeks with a shoulder injury, center Cooper Vuna injured his shoulder, while flanker Hoani Macdonald broke bones in his hand.

Despite the seven try drubbing, coach Rod Macqueen has tried to remain positive after seeing some signs during the game that he can work with in the next few weeks.

"I've got a fair bit of faith in a lot of the good things they did there to say that we will be competitive this year," he said.

"You can't go away from the fact you're going to be judged on the scoreboard. But as coaches we can see some light at the end of the tunnel there."

Please note that Rugbydump is not a paid for highlights channel, so every match will not be shown. Where possible though, certain games will be featured, but the focus will always be to bring you the best incidents and moments from around the rugby world.


Time: 05:03

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