Stirling Mortlock’s return helps Melbourne Rebels beat Fiji 42-27
Stirling Mortlock the former Wallabies captain made a delightful try scoring debut for Melbourne Rebels. This was his first game after a long term break since May 2010. Mortlock finally proved that he is done with the lengthy break from back injury, by storming
over the opponent’s side for a first half try. Ballarat witnessed Fiji getting a serious 42-27 thrashing by Rebels.
Mortlock said, “I was considerably more nervous than what I would have been for a normal trial, but it was good nervous.” Talking to the media cheerfully he phrased, “It was nice to be back on the horse.”
Stirling Austin Mortlock is an Australian rugby union player, who plays as a wing and center for Wallabies. He appears as a fullback if required. He joined Melbourne Rebels in March last year and has the honour of scoring above 1000 Super Rugby points. Former
Wallaby captain is nicknamed as Stirlo and Snorky by his team mates and is a 500 point scorer for his national side.
Mortlock started his career professionally with Brumbies in1998 and played every game in that season. He was appointed as the Brumbies captain in 2004. Mortlock was plucked out of the rugby league by Rod McQueen, when e was only 20 years of age. He played
his debut match for Wallabies against Argentina in 2000. He built a reputation of scoring and soon became a permanent member of the national side. He has given some memorable performance including some decisive last minute tries and penalties. He co-captained
Australia with Phil Waugh in 2007.
Mortlock has the honour of being Super Rugby player of the Year in 2002. He is the third Australian to be on all time test point scorer with a total of 473 points. He became the highest Super Rugby point scorer in the history of rugby in 2009 while playing
against Auckland Blues.
He had serious disc problem and underwent a surgery after it was announced that he will be joining Melbourne Rebels. He recovered well and is now on the top of his game again and prove it in today’s match.
Fiji were blown away by five tries in first half scored by Cooper Vuna, Mortlock, Lachie Mitchell, Danny Cipriani and James Hilgendorf. One more try in second half by Heath Tessman cemented the victory for Rebels.
Cipriani alone scored five conversions and James Higendrof scored one in second half in the presence of 3,500 Rebel fans at St Patrick’s College.
McQueen was delighted on the performance and welcomed the Australian super star to his side for a long term relation with the club. He said, “This was the nucleus of a good side here. And they've been training together for quite a while.”
Praising the individual effort of the team he said, “For instance their set-pieces, the scrums and lineouts were of good quality and that's what we needed.”
Former Newcastle Knight’s player Cooper Vuna has scored for Rebels consistently in all three matches, while Danny Cipriani scored a dazzling five pointer after starting from fullback.
Over all it was a match dominated by Rebels and Mortlock, who was all over the field assisting every other try. Rebels had to win this match to continue the winning streak and Mortlock had to shine to prove his standing as one of the best center in the world
of rugby.
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