{"id":382065,"date":"2024-04-05T11:35:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T11:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=382065"},"modified":"2024-04-05T13:03:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T13:03:02","slug":"elbows-thrown-rebels-headbutted-in-insane-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=382065","title":{"rendered":"Elbows thrown, Rebels headbutted in 'insane' meltdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second half scenes that left commentators aghast were barely believable after the Fijian Drua flew out to an early lead against the Melbourne Rebels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Powerful, disciplined, and calculated \u2013 a 20-8 lead after the first 35 minutes could have given anyone sitting in the green grandstands confidence the Drua might seal an away win.<\/p>\n

That was certainly the vibe inside the Stan Sport commentary box. Even the Rebels' Nick Jooste conceded the Drua were "killing" them up front.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season,<\/strong><\/em> with<\/strong><\/em> every match ad free, live and and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

However, what followed in the final 45 minutes was anything but pretty from the visitors.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Just a minute shy of the break, Leone Rotuisolia copped a yellow card for hitting Carter Gordon in the head with his shoulder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That opened the floodgates, allowing the Rebels to score right on half-time and narrow the deficit to five points.<\/p>\n

Rotuisolia's absence was felt early in the second half as the Rebels snagged back-to-back tries inside five minutes of the match resuming to take the lead.<\/p>\n

It was one-way traffic from there, racking up 33 unanswered points in all to seal a 41-20 win.<\/p>\n

\"Brutal<\/p>\n

The Drua threatened to find their way back into the game but let their frustrations get the better of them.<\/p>\n

First, Frank Lomani elbowed Josh Canham in the back of the head and then Jone Koroiduadua headbutted another Rebels player.<\/p>\n

It took referee Damon Murphy all of a few seconds to send Lomani off after replays were shown on the screen and took about as long for Koroiduadua to receive the same fate.<\/p>\n

Both received red cards.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/SimonRaiwalui\/status\/1776193243757314153<\/a><\/p>\n

"Frank Lomani has had a brain explosion," said Tim Horan on Stan Sport's commentary mid-match.<\/p>\n

"He's now let his team down. They were just trying to claw back into the game and he gets a red card."<\/p>\n

Justin Harrison added, "\ufeffThere's heat of the moment and then there's stupidity."<\/p>\n

Lomani's hit and Koroiduadua's brain explosion were egregious at best, leaving commentators aghast and SANZAAR reaching for the ban hammer.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThat is a straight red card. Wow. That's crazy," said Harrison as replays flashed up on screen.<\/p>\n

\"Frank<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt's total stupidity. Look at that, I'm telling you now, that is insane.<\/p>\n

"There's playing the game physically, there's playing the game with aggression and getting in someone's face, but you don't do that."<\/p>\n

Horan said it was all ultimately down to the position the Drua had put themselves in.<\/p>\n

"That's total frustration \ufeffby the Fijian Drua side," said Horan.<\/p>\n

The Fijian Drua captain copped a bollocking from the referee for the on-field behaviour.<\/p>\n

"Gee, coach Mick Byrne is going to be furious with the discipline in the second half for his team," said Horan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"That's crazy stuff from the Fijian Drua. Crazy!"\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second half scenes that left commentators aghast were barely believable after the Fijian Drua flew out to an early lead against the Melbourne Rebels. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":382067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382065"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=382065"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382071,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382065\/revisions\/382071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/382067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=382065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=382065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=382065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}