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Melbourne - The Melbourne Rebels snapped a three-game losing streak to beat the Reds 30-24 on Friday.
With the victory, the Rebels shored up their place at the top of the Australian conference, making the most of two Reds yellow cards.
Tries came from Wallabies Marika Koroibete, Dane Haylett-Petty, and Tetera Faulkner, along with Anaru Rangi.
The Rebels desperately needed a win to set up the back end of the season after an impressive start to the year faltered with three straight defeats.
"Was a good win, we had to grind it out there in some tough conditions," said skipper Haylett-Petty.
"We put pressure on them, especially when they had some (yellow) cards. We obviously wanted to get back to winning ways, but also our brand of rugby - and we did through patches there."
They had all the early possession, but made too many errors with a slippery ball and Bryce Hegarty kicked a penalty to put the Reds in front.
When Reds skipper Samu Kerevi was yellow carded on 16 minutes for tackling Genia in the air, the Rebels grabbed the advantage with Koroibete busting through the defence for a try off a dominant set piece.
They got their second after an intense period of pressure saw hooker Rangi flop over after a powerful driving maul from a lineout. Quade Cooper converted both times.
Against the run of play, the Reds kept in touch with a try just before half-time as youngster Isaac Lucas got his first touchdown in Super Rugby.
But with Scott Higginbotham in the sin bin at the start of the second stanza, the Rebels pressed hard and produced two tries in the opening 10 minutes, from Faulkner after a move from within their own half and then Haylett-Petty.
Harry Hoopert pulled one back for the Reds from a rolling maul but the damage had been done and a late Reece Hodge penalty ensured the win.
Scorers:
Rebels 30 (14)
Tries: Marika Koroibete, Anaru Rangi, Tetera Faulkner, Dane Haylett-Petty
Conversions: Quade Cooper (2)
Penalties: Reece Hodge (2)
Reds 24 (11)
Tries: Isaac Lucas, Harry Hoopert
Conversion: Bryce Hegarty
Penalties: Hegarty (4)
Teams:
Rebels
15 Dane Haylett-Petty (captain), 14 Jack Maddocks, 13 Tom English, 12 Billy Meakes, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 Brad Wilkin, 6 Rob Leota, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Matt Philip, 3 Sam Talakai, 2 Robbie Abel, 1 Matt Gibbon
Substitutes: 16 Anaru Rangi, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Jermaine Ainsley, 19 Luke Jones, 20 Ross Haylett-Petty, 21 Richard Hardwick, 22 Michael Ruru, 23 Reece Hodge
Reds
15 Hamish Stewart, 14 Jock Campbell, 13 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 12 Samu Kerevi (captain), 11 Sefa Naivalu, 10 Bryce Hegarty, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Liam Wright, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Angus Blyth, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Alex Mafi, 1 JP Smith
Substitutes: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Harry Hoopert, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Caleb Timu, 21 Moses Sorovi, 22 Duncan Paia’aua, 23 Isaac Lucas
