Melbourne have made it back-to-back Super Rugby Pacific wins, holding on to beat Moana Pasifika 29-23 in Waikato.
Behind a bruising display from their forward pack, the Rebels overcame a second-half fightback from Pasifika to grab a 24-20 lead on 67 minutes through a Lachie Anderson try.
Andrew Kellaway, who played superbly after shifting from fullback to wing, iced the contest by putting Glen Vaihu through to score two minutes from time.
Skipper Rob Leota, who left the field early with a leg injury, acknowledged the win as a step forward for a side winning consecutive games for the first time since April 2022.
“For us this week (our goal) was winning on the road and winning back-to-back. We haven't been very fond of doing that for a while,” he said.
“On the road against a great team like Moana, we're happy to come out with the win.
“It was big for us just sticking in, we know how physical Moana can be and we knew we had to be up for the challenge.
“It's a big forward pack, so I'm just proud the boys stuck in there, just trusted the process.”
After last weekend’s 48-34 win against the Western Force, any memories of the Rebels’ uncompetitive first-up display against the ACT are a thing of the past as they soar up the table in the early rounds.
Riding high from their second-half surge against the Force, Melbourne looked on track for a comfortable win when they raced to an early 19-3 lead.
Kellaway only needed five minutes to get on the scoresheet, with his forwards helping produce tries for Ryan Louwrens and Vaiolini Ekuasi.
But the longer the game went, the more the Pasifika outfit found their feet, with legendary All Black Julian Savea instrumental in all that went right for them.
He powered his way close to the line for lock Allan Craig to score Moana’s first try, before crossing himself to claim the record for most tries in Super Rugby Pacific history.
Savea, who’s scored 61 career tries, was an off-season addition for Moana after being released by the Hurricanes.
Moana played the last 15 minutes a player down, with Craig and then Jacob Norris spending time in the sin bin.
But Savea lamented their shocking start as the reason his side lost.
"We didn't turn up and it took a while, and against a good team like the Rebels, you can't start like that," he said.
"Physically, they beat us up early on, we just showed our talent too late."
With Melbourne 2-1 for the season, Leota insisted there was plenty of improvement left.
“We still feel like we've got so much growth in our squad and we realise the depth we've got,” he said.
“We're mixing those combinations, but coming into the season, getting more games together, I think we're going to be a lot better as the season goes on.”
