Melbourne Rebels skipper Rob Leota attributed one of the team’s greatest-ever Super Rugby comebacks to their forwards pack being called “soft”.
The Rebels were facing defeat to Western Force at home on Friday evening before reeling off 29 unanswered points in the final half hour to win 48-34.
They had slumped 30-3 to the ACT Brumbies in their season-opening game last week, which saw former Wallabies great Tim Horan slam the forwards as “soft as I’ve seen”.
Wallabies flanker Leota said a passionate speech by their forwards coach, ex-England lock Geoff Parling, sparked the energy needed for the comeback.
“Our forwards coach Geoff Parling does immense work for us, so when we hear those comments, we just wanted to do a job for him,” he said.
“His message before the game was he wanted to be on the field with us and he started to get a bit emotional, so we knew from the get-go that this was going to be a game that we need to solidify ourselves as a pack.
“I’m just proud of all the boys and the whole team to come away with the win.”
Coach Kevin Foote praised the impact of Wallabies backs Andrew Kellaway and Carter Gordon, who both scored two tries, while also admitting the Horan comments had hit hard.
“There were a few comments about our pack and I reminded them of those before the game,” Foote said.
“We don’t really care what people say, we want to know what we think inside our camp.
“But at the same time, if a Wallaby legend like Tim Horan says we’re soft, we take notes of that and I think Lukhan (Salakaia-Loto) said it: ‘That’s personal’.”
