{"id":384419,"date":"2024-04-13T12:58:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T12:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=384419"},"modified":"2024-04-13T14:03:30","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T14:03:30","slug":"kid-wonder-fires-unlikely-rebels-into-top-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=384419","title":{"rendered":"'Kid wonder' fires unlikely Rebels into top four"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies icon Tim Horan hailed "kid wonder" Darby Lancaster \ufeffas a "special" talent after inspiring the cash strapped Rebels into Super Rugby Pacific's top four on Saturday night.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lancaster, the former Australian sevens star who could play at Paris 2024, scored a breakout hat trick \ufeffof tries in a highly impressive 47-31 win over the Highlanders in Melbourne.<\/a><\/p>\n

Only the Hurricanes, Blues and Brumbies sit above the Rebels\ufeff, who have won their last three to enter their bye week with a 5-3 record.<\/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

\"Darby<\/p>\n

It is heady stuff for a beleaguered club \ufeffwho face an uncertain future beyond the season.<\/p>\n

Rugby Australia now control the Rebels and RA chief executive Phil Waugh has said that on field performances will influence their chances of survival.<\/p>\n

"There's something special about him," Horan said of speedster Lancaster on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE:<\/strong> Why Australia's fastest woman opted out of 100m<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Team sent 'aggressive' legal threat to driver<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The rugby players who can seriously golf<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1779107786044965303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"Have we found a new kid wonder? Three tries tonight on the left wing, he's going to be some sort of player."<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old \ufeffsaid he was "absolutely over the moon."<\/p>\n

"We came here tonight with a real plan, to beat them through the middle first and then go wide," Lancaster said on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! Michael Atkinson and Iain Payten discuss a possible Rebels saviour and Kurtley Beale going west<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/rugby-world-cup-inside-line\/the-judiciary-needs-consistency\/embed?in_playlist=podcast&style=Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

"We just really concentrated on attacking and playing good, fast rugby. I suppose I just benefited off the back of that."<\/p>\n

A modest Lancaster was underselling the amount of work he had to do.\ufeff<\/p>\n

He credited the sevens world series for sharpening his skills\ufeff and fullback Andrew Kellaway for directing traffic at the back.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1779093552678453533?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Five-eighth Carter Gordon was also excellent and scored two tries to boost his own Wallabies selection claims.<\/p>\n

Morgan Turinui said Gordon should be considered second in the Test pecking o\ufeffrder behind Noah Lolesio of the Brumbies.<\/p>\n

In Wellington, \ufeffformer All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara scored two tries to equal the tournament's all time try scoring record as the Hurricanes beat the Chiefs 36-23 to stay unbeaten through eight rounds.<\/p>\n

\"Perenara<\/p>\n

Perenara scored in the 17th minute as the Hurricanes used an overwhelming scrum advantage early to build a 17-7 lead and again in the 58th minute, after the Chiefs had rallied to go ahead 23-17.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes produced a typically two faced performance.<\/p>\n

When they were ascendant behind their scrum in the first quarter they were polished and clinical.<\/p>\n

\"TJ<\/p>\n

Perenara and No.8 Brayden Iose both scored from the scrum platform.<\/p>\n

But when the Chiefs rallied, obtaining more possession and applying pressure, the Hurricanes looked stretched, their discipline frayed and they lost cohesion both in attack and defence.<\/p>\n

Conceding penalties and turning over possession with bad passes, the Hurricanes helped the Chiefs back into the match.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1779069530679234781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

They scored a try through halfback Cortez Ratima and then closed the gap on the Hurricanes with penalties to Damian McKenzie, even with winger Emoni Narawa in the sinbin.<\/p>\n

Again at the start of the second half, the Chiefs looked more composed than the Hurricanes, advancing the ball well through one off runners, occasionally using offloads to stretch the defence and with McKenzie kicking effectively.<\/p>\n

Back from the sinbin, Narawa scored the second Chiefs try and gave them a six point lead.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1779062185445949637?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

But near the start of the last quarter, the tide switched again and the Hurricanes won back the lead through Perenara who drew level with former teammate Julian Savea on 62 career tries.<\/p>\n

Then winger Kini Naholo scored at the end of a sweeping movement of more than a dozen phases.<\/p>\n

And hooker Asafo Aumua, whose bruising ball carrying had been a feature of the match, brushed off one tackler and carried three more over the line to score the fourth Hurricanes try.<\/p>\n

\"Hurricanes<\/p>\n

"It's pretty obvious our discipline at times put us at the wrong end of the field and the Chiefs are a good team and will capitalise on that," Hurricanes captain Brad Shields said.<\/p>\n

"I'm pretty happy with the way we defended at times and our bench came on and changed the game for us. A couple of key moments that we executed really well put us in a good spot to win."<\/p>\n

The performance of the Hurricanes front row of Aumua, tighthead Tyrel Lomax and loosehead Xavier Numia might have caught the attention of the All Blacks selectors.<\/p>\n

\"TJ<\/p>\n

Aumua was up against All Blacks hooker Samisoni Taukei'aho and had the best of that contest.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs were forced to make a front row change at halftime, though there were fewer scrums in the second half.<\/p>\n

Josh Moorby had another strong game for the Hurricanes on the right wing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wallabies icon Tim Horan hailed "kid wonder" Darby Lancaster \ufeffas a "special" talent after inspiring the cash strapped Rebels into Super Rugby Pacific's top four […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":384421,"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\/384419"}],"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=384419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384427,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384419\/revisions\/384427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/384421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=384419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=384419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=384419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}