Melbourne's plans to end their Super Rugby season on a high and send coach Tony McGahan out a winner fell short on Friday night with a heartbreaking 32-29 loss to the Jaguares at AAMI Park.
The Rebels went into the match not knowing if it would be them or the Western Force to be cut by the Australian Rugby Union from a revised 2018 competition. They played in the first half like their lives depended on it.
They led 19-10, with Reece Hodge scoring all of the points by converting his own try and adding four penalties.
Hodge ran a perfect line onto a bullet pass from halfback Nic Stirzaker and then combined with young fullback Jack Maddocks before touching down.
They tackled their hearts out and looked dangerous in attack, with NRL convert Marika Koroibete and No.8 Amanaki Mafi among their best.
But the second half was almost one-way traffic, with the Jaguares adding 20 points while the home side could only manage a solitary penalty until the final minute of play when Rebels lock Steve Cummins dived across the line.
A 58th-minute try broke the Rebels hearts as prop Toby Smith threw a pass straight to Jaguares five-eighth Nicolas Sanchez, with lock Guido Petti collecting the spoils.
Gonzalo Bertranou and then winger Santiago Cordero crossed to set up the match-winning margin.
It unfortunately was typical of the Rebels this season, with moments of brilliance brought undone by some costly errors. It left them with just one victory for the year.
McGahan said errors had cost the Rebels when it mattered.
"We competed pretty hard and controlled things pretty well in the first half and probably caught ourselves short with our hand management in the second half," he said.
"We coughed up a couple of easy tries and came up short pretty much off the back of our own mistakes.
"We've competed for two-thirds of our matches this season but we're missing that final part in four or five games and that makes a difference in the Australian conference."