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The Man wrote: How was the game tonight???

The Melbourne Rebels have moved back to the top of the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship ladder with a 39-20 victory over the Sydney Fleet at Olympic Park on Friday night.

In a fiery encounter which saw tempers flare on more than one occasion, the Rebels held a slender 14-13 lead at half-time and, after falling behind early in the second 40 minutes, ran in four more tries en route to a haul of 25 unanswered points to seal the win.

Scrumhalf Luke Burgess scored two tries for the Rebels in a man-of-the-match performance, while fullback Damon Murphy was lively in his first start for the home side.

Former Wallaby Morgan Turinui was excellent for the Fleet, but the Sydney side will rue having to play large portions of the game with just 14 men, after three players were yellow-carded for misdemeanours.

The Rebels enjoyed the better field position early, but Turinui made a break in the middle of the park and found Gavin Debartolo who crossed over for the opening try of the night after seven minutes.

Fleet flanker Daniel Halangahu missed the conversion, but made up for his miss shortly after by slotting an easy penalty goal from straight in front after the Rebels were penalised for a high tackle, giving his side an 8-0 lead.

The Rebels hit back shortly after when Murphy made an excellent run down the left wing, finding Burgess just before the line who planted the ball down for the easiest of tries. Nathan Trist converted the try to reduce the margin to one.

Murphy was at it again, firstly re-gathering his own chip kick, before being on the end of the Rebels second try, crossing in the corner after an excellent run from flyhalf Dan Kelly.

Trist nailed a tough conversion from the sideline, giving the Rebels a six-point lead, but the Fleet hit back right on the stroke of half-time.

Just metres out from their line the Fleet used a scrum to perfection, pushing the Rebels back after continuous re-sets, before reserve Chris Houston was awarded a questionable try in the corner, as the Rebels took a one-point lead into the break.

Shortly after the resumption Turinui made another excellent run, finding winger Anton LaVin, who then made a short pass to Alfi Mafi who scored under the posts in what was an excellent five-pointer.

Debartolo succeeded with the conversion to extend the Fleet's lead to six (20-14), before the Rebels once again hit back with prop Heamani Lavaka pushing over after the home side used a line-out superbly.

Trist missed the tough conversion, but the Rebels were in front once again (22-20) when the winger made no mistake from a slight angle with a penalty goal after the Fleet were penalised.

With a little under 20 minutes remaining the Fleet needed to answer quickly, but Burgess made another darting run and found James Lew with a lovely ball as the Rebels extended their lead to seven.

Any chance the Fleet had was extinguished when Burgess dived over from short-range for his second try, much to the delight of the home fans, and Burgess sealed the result when he made yet another run and found Lew for his second try right on final whistle.


Melbourne Rebels 39
Tries: Luke Burgess 2, James Lew 2, Damon Murphy, Heamani Lavaka
Conversions: Nathan Trist 3
Penalty Goals: Trist

Sydney Fleet 20
Tries: Gavin Debartolo, Chris Houston, Alfi Mafi
Conversions: Debartolo
Penalty Goals: Daniel Halangahu

lotti wrote: the Storm pull more than that, even when the weather's not so crash hot and during AFL season.