Melbourne Rebels defence coach Kevin Foote believes the side is in a good position to rebound this week after having “honest conversations” following a tough loss to the Waratahs.
Foote says the playing group took their time on Monday to properly review and de-brief Friday night’s loss to the Waratahs.
Foote believes the discussion has led a greater understanding amongst the Club with what needs to be fixed and what can be implemented in the final two rounds of the home and away season.
“We had the luxury of a seven-day turnaround and a proper Monday review,” Foote said.
“We had a hard look at ourselves and we had some good honest conversations, but it was also about growing and learning and understanding what we can do better going forward.”
The Rebels succumbed to the Waratahs for the second time in 2019, losing 20-15 in a match which could’ve have helped the home side towards sewing up an inaugural finals spot.
In his own reflections of the match, Foote says he feels disappointed by the way the Waratahs scored their two tries, with both five-pointers coming from set-pieces.
“Obviously, we let ourselves down, I feel personally about our structure defence, they scored two tries off a scrum, so myself and the backs are looking pretty hard at ourselves there and how to get better,” Foote said.
However, the Club has now turned its focus to Rebels’ final away match of the regular season, as the side travels to Christchurch to tackle the ladder-leading Crusaders.
Foote says while some may be daunted about facing the Crusaders in New Zealand, the Melburnians are excited about the prospect of testing themselves against the back to back Super Rugby champions.
“This is the exciting thing about Super Rugby and sport, you get to go down to Christchurch and play a very good team,” Foote said.
“The reality is the Crusaders have also lost. You can build them up into some big monster, but they’ve lost a couple of times this year and they’ve had a couple of draws.
“So it’s exciting for us to go there (and) fight for a win.”
