Round 9 - 21.06.25
Rebels with a cause!
It was a great day to be a Rebel. All three senior grades played at home in Byron and put on a display of sparkling rugby for Old Boys Day. Legends of the Club from Byron Bay and Bangalow were out in force to watch their teams make a clean sweep of the men’s second grade, women’s 10s, and men’s first grade games. Then to top it off, the men’s special edition charity jerseys were auctioned off with some spirited bidding raising over $4000 for the Tom Evans Rehab Fund and the Bangalow Men’s Shed. Rebels with a cause (or two)!
The on-field action kicked off with the second grade game against the Lennox Head Trojans. The Rebels squad featured some new faces – Rhys Kearton at 12, Iliesa “Flash” Vukikomoala on the wing, and Vyasadev (Vy) Thallon and Jose Castro coming off the bench.
Over the coming years we hope to see lots more of Vy and his younger brother Phoenix, who is coming through from the Junior Rebels. Consistent with the theme of Old Boys Day, alongside these new faces on the bench were two elder statesmen of the Club: Chris Parsons and Sam Campbell. A classic second grade Rebels team.
And right from the kick-off they played like a classic team. Lennox were quickly on the back foot with the Rebels forwards barging over the gain line and our backs hitting the spaces at pace. It took only five minutes for big Rhys Kearton to take a well-timed pass and crash over the line dragging two Trojans with him.
That early try set the tone for the rest of the game. Most of the time the Trojans were going backwards, even when they were in possession. Tries kept coming for the Rebels. Ashton Sione was rewarded for his high work rate and powerful carries with a five-pointer followed by one to skipper Luke Philip and another to Rhys Kearton. Campbell Harvey bamboozled the opposition with his trademark speed and razzle-dazzle. Steve “Barrel” Gilbert at 10 guided the back line around with his usual calm, and grabbed a try himself. And just in case anyone wasn’t paying attention, Rhys announced his arrival at the Rebels even more emphatically with a third try in his debut game. Welcome to the Club big fella. Final score was a comprehensive 48 – 14 to the Rebels.
The women’s game was against Southern Cross University who have been struggling for numbers this year. Our girls lent them some players to match the teams up more evenly, then proceeded to play some of their best rugby of the season. The Rebels’ handling and running lines were better than in the previous game, quickly producing tries and plenty of them. Faith Taylor in particular seemed to be burning a track to the tryline. Perhaps the most memorable moment of the game was not a Rebels’ try but a Rebels’ body slam. Captain Shyanne Appleby, taking a turn playing for Uni, flattened Lilou Chaumard in a collision that was felt in the stands. Talk about tough! Fortunately, they both lived to tell the tale. The formal result was a forfeit by SCU, so 30 – 0 to the Rebels, but it was played out as a full game, giving our women some valuable match practice and a confidence boost going into the next round.
The first grade men’s team came out looking spectacular in their charity jerseys, and they started the game in spectacular fashion. The cohesion that had been lacking in the previous game seemed to be back and a well-executed series of attacking phases was brilliantly finished by winger Sam Reid in the corner to post the first score within ten minutes. That was soon followed by two tries in quick succession to outside centre and co-captain George Garnett, again from well-executed moves.
Only two minutes later Jude Eastwell charged down a kick from the hesitant Trojan fly-half. Jude then got a favourable bounce to find the ball in his hands and no one between him and the try line. Another five pointer. Just twenty minutes gone and the Rebels had already run in four tries.
It looked like it could have been heading for a whitewash, but some errors started to creep back into the Rebels’ game and the Lennox Trojans stuck to their guns and started using a more expansive kicking game. The second quarter was a frustrating one for the Rebels, with missed scoring opportunities, dropped ball, and some lack of cohesion once again slowing the momentum.
Half-time was a chance to regroup and the Rebels came out firing, producing a third try for George Garnett only two minutes after the break. The game was now well out of reach for the Trojans, but they did manage to put on some serious pressure which the Rebels repelled with solid defence.
There was one more champagne moment for the Rebels with a sweeping counterattack down the far touch line and a clever interchange of passes between outside centre and winger to send Sam Reid in for his second try of the day.
Unfortunately, the prolonged defensive passages in the second half were marked by some lapses in discipline. At one point the Rebels had two players in the sin-bin and in the closing minutes of the game Charlie Fallows was yellow-carded for a second time, meaning an automatic red card, after too many infringements by the team.
But that was really the only dark spot on an otherwise brilliant day. The final score in first grade was 38 – 7, completing a clean sweep of bonus point wins. What a great day to be a Rebel!
Written by David Phillips
