Some soul searching is in order in Melbourne this week, as the Rebels try to figure out how they will avoid another embarrassing defeat when they take on the Chiefs in round four.
Melbourne have the bye this week - a perfectly timed season reset after being disgraced in their first two starts against Kiwi opposition.
Saturday's 71-6 loss to the Hurricanes was the worst in the team's seven-year history and coach Tony McGahan was at a loss for words post match.
"It's hard to know where to start, really," he said.
"Too much turnover ball from set piece, too much turnover ball from breakdown and they did some pretty special things out there but a lot of it was off the back of us.
"Second best in pretty much everything - we tried hard and opened up okay but when they put their foot to the pedal we were unable to keep up."
The team's defensive woes were on show for all to see yesterday, as they missed 40 tackles in the 65 point drubbing.
"They're a good side, no doubt, but we've got more in us and we need to deliver that and we certainly haven't over the last two weeks," McGahan said.
"We need to start executing and making sure we hang on to the ball so we can do something with it.
"We're okay but unable to mount consistent enough pressure that subsequently takes some off the defence and allow us to stay in the mix."
All attention now shifts to the Chiefs clash on Friday week, who easily accounted for a Blues team that hammered the Rebels in round one on Friday night.
"The journey continues, we need to make sure we improve and go about finding some solutions." - Tony McGahan
Post match skipper Nic Stirzaker predicted they would get 'flogged' leading up to their bye and McGahan didn't deny that would be the case.
'We've got more in us and we need to deliver that. We'll have one or two days down and then we need to get back into work," McGahan added.
