Insult to injury as bloodied prop faces long ban

Western Force’s woes have been compounded after prop Marley Pearce was cited for a dangerous tackle in Saturday’s deflating 44-14 loss to the Hurricanes in Perth.

Pearce suffered a suspected broken nose in a head clash with Jordie Barrett and copped a yellow card to add insult to injury.

Super Rugby Pacific’s citing commissioner has now decided that Pearce’s actions warranted a red card and his case will be heard by the foul play review committee on Monday night.

Watch all the action from the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season, with every match ad-free, live and and on demand on Stan Sport

The Hurricanes were superior throughout, leading 22-0 at halftime and doubling their score in the second half.

Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White was a livewire for the Force and scored a good solo try.

But the Force were trounced at set pieces and weren’t able to match the continuity of the Hurricanes.

The result will be troubling for those who believe the Wallabies will not improve until Australian teams routinely beat New Zealand opponents at Super Rugby level.

“There’s not much to say. It’s bitterly disappointing and we’ve got to take learnings from that,” Force co-captain Michael Wells told Stan Sport.

“There are a few boys to come back, but the squad mentality is the team that we put out has got to do a job. We can’t wait for guys who are injured. We’ve got to do a better job on the field every week.”

The best and worst of Australian rugby was on show in the first round, expressed in microcosm in a single game.

The ACT Brumbies beat the Melbourne Rebels 30-3 in a widely predicted result.

The Brumbies have been semi-finalists in the last three seasons and are the benchmark for Australian teams.

The Rebels are running on fumes financially and may not last the season.

The match highlighted the duality of Australian rugby, professionalism and dysfunction.

The Brumbies weren’t at their best but still were able to persevere and win comfortably in Rebels territory.

They shrugged off rustiness and occasional lapses of discipline while the Rebels struggled to overcome an unreliable lineout and lack of precision with their few attacking opportunities.

Brumbies flyhalf Noah Lolesio had the upper hand over his Wallabies rival Carter Gordon in a contest which likely would have interested new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt.

“The boys have been training well for a long time now and we had a good combination out on the field so we were expecting to do well,” Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said.

“But you never really know. We got a lot of things right tonight. It’s a good start.”

It was the start of a mixed weekend for Australian teams which saw the revival of the biggest derby in Australia between the Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs.

The new season has started with a greater focus on the Australian teams after the Wallabies failure at last year’s Rugby World Cup and the appointment of Schmidt to succeed Eddie Jones as coach.

The derby match, usually a high point of the season, had the expected physicality and competitiveness.

There were six lead changes in the first half but the Reds gradually got on top in the second to win 40-22 and to hand a winning start to new coach Les Kiss.

The match attracted almost 15,000 fans to Suncorp Stadium, well short of the crowds for similar contests in the past but not bad for the first match of the season with the Australian summer still in full bloom.

The Reds have an expressed intention this season to run the ball as much as possible, going back to their roots.

But wet conditions curbed that goal a little.

The Reds backrow of Harry Wilson, Fraser McReight and Liam Wright were outstanding in those conditions and their effort played a large part in separating the teams.

“Pretty potent trio aren’t they and they all complement each other,” Waratahs coach Darren Coleman said.

In other matches, the Chiefs reversed the result of last year’s final when they beat the Crusaders 33-29, the Blues beat the Fijian Drua 34-10 and the Highlanders beat Moana Pasifika 35-21.