The Melbourne Rebels produced the best defensive performance of their short history but still couldn’t topple the Queensland Reds in a torrid Super Rugby dogfight on Saturday night.
The competition’s 2011 wooden-spooners delivered a major fright to the defending champions before the Reds wriggled free with an 11-6 victory.
Kurtley Beale’s Rebels debut never hit any great heights for either side but the gutsy effort and tenacious defence of the visitors will please coach Damien Hill and defensive guru John Muggleton.
It was a sole 55th-minute try by winger Dom Shipperley which decided the match as Queensland overcame their first-half woes to control play after the break and take a 3-0 record into their two-match trip to South Africa.
Widely expected to make light work of the Victorians, the Reds frustrated their home crowd of 34,126 in one of their worst first halves under Ewen McKenzie.
Queensland lacked cohesion, vision and rhythm with the ball as Melbourne’s much-maligned defence improved vastly on their opening round loss to the Waratahs to be well organised and menacing.
The Rebels dominated in both the possession (50-29 rucks and mauls) and field-position stakes and the ill-disciplined home side allowed James O’Connor to kick his side to a deserving 6-0 lead after 32 minutes.
They also lowered the colours of the Queensland scrum with a tight-head and constant pressure at the set-piece in the first half.
It was only just before halftime when radar-boot Mike Harris, who earlier missed with a 45m attempt to end his record streak at 24, put the Reds on the board following their own scrum penalty.
The injection of reserve Ben Lucas into five-eighth, moving Harris to inside centre, with half an hour to go did plenty to spark the home side’s attack and it wasn’t long after when Shipperley crossed for his try.
Reds skipper and stand-out forward James Horwill stole a lineout on the line before the Rebels stout defence finally broke when Will Genia looped a wide pass to the unmarked winger in the right corner.
Harris missed the conversion but did slot a penalty eight minutes later – after Genia twice unsuccessfully took quick taps near the line instead of shooting for goal – for an 11-6 lead.
Beale, who was kept relatively quiet, looked on course to produce a heroic match-winning debut when he chased down a late dangerous kick into the Reds’ 22 but replacement flanker Beau Robinson somehow saved the day.
Like Lucas, Robinson was a key contributor in the dying stages as he worked in tandem with teenage ball scavenger Liam Gill.
The Rebels were awarded a penalty in front of the posts with three minutes left and went for a try but once again lost a crucial lineout which allowed Robinson to hack the ball clear.
Coming off last season’s dreadful tackling record, when they conceded an average four tries a game, as well as last week’s disappointing 35-19 loss to NSW, Hill was extremely proud of the defensive effort and no-holds-barred effort at the fiercely-contested breakdown.
“We definitely stepped up,” he said.
“We only conceded three missed tackles in the first 30 minutes and as a result we had 70 per cent of possession but we didn’t turn it into any points.”
Queensland’s gritty win gives them 15 from their past 16 home games and also equals their best-ever start to a Super season, dating back to 1999.
“I thought the Rebels were quite industrious and it was a typical derby-type game with plenty of aggressive action,” McKenzie said.
“Both teams were good at getting stuck into each other and we were quite pleased to come out of the game without any injuries and a four-point haul.”
McKenzie praised his bench for their second-half impact, highlighting the efforts of veteran lock Van Humphries, along with Lucas and Robinson.
Set to fly out for South Africa early on Sunday morning, Queensland added frontrower Albert Anae, backrower Ed Quirk, halfback Nick Frisby and utility back Dallan Murphy to their 26-man tour squad.