Punch Drunk Rebels KO’d in the Free State

The lowly Cheetahs beat the Rebels 34-16 in Bloemfontein to win their fourth game in a row, following three victories on the road.
Punch Drunk Rebels KO’d in the Free State
Cheetahs winger Raymond Rhule out-sprints Rebels star James O’Connor in their Super Rugby match on Saturday March 30. (Loren Battersby/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
4/3/2013
Updated:
4/3/2013

 The lowly Cheetahs beat the Rebels 34-16 in Bloemfontein to win their fourth game in a row, following three victories on the road.

The Cheetahs scored five tries to one against the Rebels from Melbourne, who slump to 13th place on the table.

The Cheetahs from the Free State are sixth—they have finished 11th on average since entering the competition in 1997.

 Coach Naka Drotske feared his team might relax after beating the Highlanders, the Waratahs and the Force in the last three games of their tour of Australia and New Zealand. But the Cheetahs won well despite Drotske—a hooker who played 36 Tests for South Africa—admitting that it wasn’t an easy victory.

“It was tough out there and we maybe could have scored one or two more tries, but I won’t be greedy,” a beaming Drotske said after the Rebels victory.

As for the Rebels, they appear leaderless, despite coach Damien Hill saying they need to “stop the rot.”

“There’s a big disconnect at the moment between our planning, what we train and then what we do out there, so it’s very frustrating,” he said.

Leading up to the game, star flyhalf Kurtley Beale was stood down indefinitely, ordered to undergo alcohol-abuse counselling and fined $40,000 (HK$325,000), after being sent home from South Africa by the Rebels.

The Australian Rugby Union imposed the penalty, because Beale is a contracted international, who is considered essential to the Wallabies.

ARU boss Bill Pulver said Beale needed to be accountable for his actions, adding that Beale was a serial offender.

While discussions were held between Beale, his manager, the ARU and the Rebels, the news was leaked that at least one Australian league side was interested in signing Beale.

Rebels chief executive Steven Boland said that Beale and a second player, Copper Vuna, who was also sent home, had shown inexcusable disrespect.

He said he expected the other players to make amends by “making us all proud in Bloemfontein next weekend.”

They didn’t make anybody proud in Blomfontein—as if on-field performance would atone for off-field misbehaviour.

Coach Hill shifted responsibility.

“The position and effectiveness of our leadership group will now be questioned as a result of this,” said Hill.

All through 2011, the Rebels tolerated the on-going, drink-fuelled misbehaviour of English flyhalf Danny Cipriani, who was dropped for the South African tour that year for disciplinary reasons.

Beale already faces assault allegations from an incident in Brisbane last year, in which he is said to have struck a bouncer. The case has been sent to mediation. The ARU has postponed dealing with the matter until the police proceedings finish.

Vuna is widely respected and it is understood he intervened when Beale began remonstrating with Rebels captain Gareth Delve. It is alleged that Beale struck both Delve and Vuna, then Vuna responded by striking Beale.

If that’s correct, why was Vuna sent home?

Perhaps it was for tweeting: “I tried to help someone, but got punched ...”

The tweet was quickly removed.

The club would like to keep delicate matters in-house, but why punish Vuna for defending his captain?