Kurtley Beale Signs for the Melbourne Rebels

After Five years with the Waratahs, Kurtley Beale has decided to move. This move has surprisingly been signed with the youngest SupeRugby franchise, Melbourne Rebels.
After less than a weeks negotiations with the Rebels, Beale put pen to paper and will be strutting his stuff in the dark blue instead of the light blue of the Waratahs.
It is rumored that the Rebels are also after James O'Connor's signature which will create an interesting decision for Rebels Coach, Rod Macqueen, as to who starts at flyhalf and fullback with the likes of Cipriani, O'Connor and Beale. 

SupeRugby Round 7 Recap:

Stormers, Reds and Crusaders are the Top three and conference qualifiers as it stands. There are another five teams that will be fighting for the last 3 spots. The reason I say this,  is I don't see the top three falling out of qualification or wild card positions by the end of the tournament. As for my PreJudgements for Round 7, I seem to be getting the hang of things. Well, I like to think so anyway.

• The Brumbies can all but resign themselves to not being in the knockout stages later this season. They slumped to yet another defeat to the Highlanders. Well done to the Otago team for yet another win. The Brumbies were let down by missed kicks and what seems like no motivation!
• The Waratahs can see a glimmer of hope in their season with a win over the Chiefs this weekend. They were in command of the game from start to finish. The Waratahs are sitting in 5th spot overall and are currently on target for a wild card entry into the play offs. Maybe they can rescue their season. I think they will.
• The Blues overcame the Cheetahs as everyone expected. The Blues are thanking the rugby Gods that there are only 80minutes in a rugby game as the cheetahs scored 19 points in 21 minutes to push the NZ side right to the end. Not quite the margin of victory I predicted but the Cheetahs surprised many people and it was fantastic to watch. Well Done.
• The Bulls got their overseas leg of the tournament off to a great start with a win over the Wellington Hurricanes. This win will largely get attributed to Morne Steyn's penalties and 2 drop goals early on in the first half. Its not the exciting rugby we all want to see but considering the lack of form the Bulls are in, it might be just what they need.
• The surprise of the weekend was delivered to us by a Richard Kingi try in the 56th minute. The Force raced to a 15-3 lead after 18 minutes but never capitalised on their lead. The Rebels showed true grit and fighting spirit and earned yet another win in their opening season of SupeRugby.
• The Reds won a close encounter in Johannesburg against the Lions. The Lions never managed to capitalise on two yellow cards issued to the Reds but were never really out of reach of the visiting team. The Lions will rue missed penalties and conversions.
• The Sharks could not keep a great home record intact as the Stormers won this South African derby by 16-6. This loss moves the Sharks way out of contention and the Stormers into a commanding position on top of the log. The Stormers backline are looking as good on the park as they have been looking on paper.

There were no real surprises in the results this week except for the Rebels win and the Cheetahs and Lions fighting spirit. The Rebels are definitely no walk over as you would expect from a new team into SupeRugby.

Player of the Week: Peter Grant
Team of the Week: Melbourne Rebels
WTF of the Week: ACT Brumbies

SA Players Abroad: JP du Plessis (Melbourne Rebels)

Born in Kroonstad South Africa in 1991, du Plessis is earmarked as a Springbok. Having matriculated from Paul Roos Gymnasium who would be surprised?
He switched codes to play Rugby League in 2010 at the Sydney Roosters and fortunately has made his way back to Union in 2011, playing for the Melbourne Rebels.
At 6ft 1in and weighing 92kg's his preferred positions are wing and centre. I am looking forward to seeing what he has to offer.

Melbourne Rebels smash Hurricanes to secure second SupeRugby win!!

With 8 All Blacks in their team you would expect the Wellington Hurricanes to teach the Melbourne Rebels a rugby lesson, similar to that of the Waratahs and the Reds.
This was not the case as the Rebels ran in 6 tries to the Hurricanes 4 for a 42-25 home win. After 17minutes it was business as usual for the struggling Hurricanes as they shot to a 17-0 lead and looked in control. However, come half time, the Rebels had got their game together and leveled matters at 20-20.
The second half proved to be the biggest problem for the Hurricanes as the only added 5 points and conceded 22. The Rebels fought and fought hard for the victory and clearly wanted it more than the Hurricanes. Special mention must go to Jarrod Saffy, Richard Kingi and Nick Phipps who really lead from the front for the Rebels. The Wellington outfit only decided to travel to Melbourne on Thursday instead of traveling earlier in the week to settle in. This does seem a bit out of the norm and I am sure the travel arrangements will change for away games in the future.
The Hurricanes are in serious threat of not qualifying for the play off spots in a few weeks as they keep slipping up to teams they were expecting to take bonus points off.
See game stats on espnscrum.com.
All in all a great performance by the underdog Melbourne Rebels, well done!