Rebels smash sloppy Cheetahs

And the result means the Rebels will top the Australian conference - for at least the next 48 hours.

The Cheetahs, who held a 14-10 lead after a competitive first half, became sloppy and coughed up ball at regular intervals - allowing the Rebels to run in four second-half tries and score 26 unanswered points.

The match was epitomised when the Rebels scored their bonus-point try through an intercept, while the Cheetahs were on the attack in the final minute.

"It's good to get the win but it was a bit of a scrappy affair," Rebels captain Nic Stirzaker said.

"But hats off to the boys, we toughed it out for 80 minutes."

Stirzaker said the Cheetahs had put enormous pressure on the Melbourne side, particularly through the forward pack.

"They've got a really good set piece and they put us under a lot of pressure at scrum and line-out time," he said.

"They threw a lot at us so I'm pretty proud of the defence, and it's good to get the bonus point."

Reece Hodge, who has played a number of backline positions in his debut season of Super Rugby, was called in for his first start at No.13 to replace the injured Mitch Inman.

The rangy Hodge used his speed and deception to full advantage, both his tries coming after scything runs through the Cheetahs defence.

The Cheetahs, who thrashed the Sunwolves 92-13 last weekend, started the better of the two teams and opened the scoring midway through the half when hooker Torsten van Jaarsveld crashed over at the back of a rolling maul.

But the Rebels hit back five minutes later when Hodge sliced through the defence and sprinted 35 metres to score out wide.

Cheetahs fullback Clayton Blommetjies put the visitors back in front when he crossed following some brilliant lead up work from wing Raymond Rhule.

The Bloemfontein-based outfit must have gone into the break full of confidence, but they were rocked from the kick-off when the Rebels regathered and Lopeti Timani touched down 45 seconds after the restart.

From there it was all the Rebels as fullback Jonah Placid scored and Hodge grabbed his second, before inside centre Tamati Ellison, whose wife gave birth to his fourth child an hour before kick-off, took an intercept to secure the bonus point for the home side.

"We came here to get the result, but credit to the Rebels, they put us under a lot of pressure," Cheetahs captain Francois Venter said.

"We need to go and work hard after this performance - I'm very disappointed.

"We had our chances, but we couldn't convert them into points."

Man of the match: With the exception of Clayton Blommetjies and Lodewyk de Jager, not too many Cheetahs put their hands up. Jonah Placid was a rock at fullback and Jack Debreczeni the general at flyhalf. Adam Thomson, Jordy Reid and Lopeti Timani were the most productive forwards. However, our award goes to Rebels centre Reece Hodge, who constantly asked questions of the Cheetahs' defence and was rewarded with two tries for a good day at the office.

The scorers:

For the Rebels:

Tries: Hodge 2, Timani, Placid, Ellison

Cons: Debreczeni 4

Pen: Debreczeni

For the Cheetahs:

Tries: Van Jaarsveld, Blommetjies

Cons: Marais 2

Teams:

Rebels: 15 Jonah Placid, 14 Cam Crawford, 13 Reece Hodge, 12 Tamati Ellison, 11 Sefa Naivalu, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Nic Stirzaker (captain), 8 Adam Thomson, 7 Sean McMahon, 6 Jordy Reid, 5 Lopeti Timani, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 James Hanson, 1 Toby Smith.

Replacements: 16 Pat Leafa, 17 Cruze Ah Nau, 18 Jamie Hagan, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Colby Fainga'a, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Kotaro Matsushima, 23 Sione Tuipulotu.

Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Nico Lee, 12 Francois Venter (captain), 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Neil Marais, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Hilton Lobberts, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Nicolaas van Dyk, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Charles Marais.

Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Danie Mienie, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Teboho Mohoje, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Fred Zeilinga.

Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)

Assistant referees: James Leckie (Australia), Angus Gardner (Australia)

TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)