Reds pip the ‘Tahs in tight contest
By AAP, 24 Jan 2010 AAP is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Chris Hickey, Reds, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Waratahs
Queensland recovered from an eight-point deficit to squeeze out a dramatic 26-24 trial win over Super 14 arch rivals NSW in Lismore.
The Waratahs scored three tries to two in front of a crowd of 3,628 spectators.
The Reds, who were playing their first game under former NSW coach Ewen McKenzie, trailed 24-16 when former ex-Queensland squad member Brendan McKibbin converted a 72nd-minute try to fellow replacement Dylan Sigg.
Queensland got within a point when Tim Walsh converted a 76th-minute try to halfback and Wallaby squad tourist Richard Kingi.
Walsh nudged the Reds past NSW with a penalty inside the final two minutes.
Both coaches opted not to use the vast majority of their current Wallaby representatives.
The Reds opened the scoring when prop Jack Kennedy rounded off some sustained forward pressure.
Five-eighth Ben Lucas converted but Queensland found themselves down to 14 men, when hooker Saia Faingaa was sin-binned for fighting following a melee.
The Waratahs capitalised on the penalty awarded for that infringement, with halfback Josh Holmes marking his return from the Brumbies by scoring a try.
Acting captain and five-eighth Daniel Halangahu converted to leave the sides locked at 7-7 at half time.
Lucas and McKibbin exchanged penalties and Walsh kicked another one as Queensland eked a 13-10 lead in the third quarter.
However, McKibbin scored a try and converted to give the Waratahs a 17-13 advantage heading into the last quarter.
Walsh narrowed the deficit to one with a 70th minute penalty.
“It’s a good result for us from a confidence point of view, I know people say it’s a trial and whatever, but you’ve got to start somewhere,” McKenzie said.
“I was pleased with the defence, I was pleased with the flow of the game in terms of the ball use and the quality of the handling, which I thought was pretty good.
“We didn’t make many mistakes.”
NSW coach Chris Hickey was particularly pleased with the performance of Halangahu and young junior Waratahs winger Alex Rokobaro.
The Reds continue their trial campaign against New Zealand’s Crusaders at Ballymore next Friday while the Waratahs face the Fijian Warriors in Orange the following night.
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kick,clap,kick said | January 24th 2010 @ 8:21am | Report comment
The Waratahs scored three tries to two in front of a crowd of 3,628 spectators.
Going gangbusters in OZ….
Gooda said | January 24th 2010 @ 8:52am | Report comment
Basically no stars played and both sides had multiple academy sides playing. It is a pre-season trial and it was in Lismore. A one or two thousand more and we would have had a reasonable HAL crowd.
big Kev said | January 24th 2010 @ 9:35am | Report comment
for a pre-season friendly in Lismore with most first team players not involved – it is a great crowd, I agree.
allblackfan said | January 24th 2010 @ 7:35pm | Report comment
These games are all about reaching out to the grassroots. Well done Waratahs for heading outside Sydney (pity it has to be a pre-season game). 3000 people got a chance to watch two Super 14 teams in action. I also remember, a few years ago, watching the Brumbies play the Chiefs in Cootamundra. These games generate a buzz, and a positive one at that.
As a sidebar, it’s worth noting that the Blues-Hurricanes pre-season game was held in a far smaller town (Tui brewery’s base, I believe) in the Wairarapa (Hurricanes territory). Town population: 129. Crowd who turned up: 8000-10,000. The true winner was the grassroots people who felt reconnected with their game (watch the video in the link;).
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/3256922/Blues-defeat-Hurricanes-in-Mangatainoka-rain
Bay35Pablo said | January 24th 2010 @ 7:28pm | Report comment
Blues v Canes trial in a small town get 7690 and sold out in temporary ground.
Given that’s rugby mad NZ, not bad by comparison especially given was essentially 2nd XVs playing.
Ora said | January 25th 2010 @ 8:43am | Report comment
Bay that game was played in Mangatainoka which has a permanent population of 129 people some media have reported it to be upwards to 300 but it is pretty obvious the are including surrounding rural areas, the game was actually played on a sheep paddock which had a facelift for the occassion.
One Quote in the Dominion post sums up the epic scale of the population increase come match day for the event
“With the population of Mangatainoka between 200 to 300, having close to 8000 people in the area at once would be like Auckland’s population swelling to 64 million.”
You really can’t compare the two, still 3000+ from a town/city of 30,000 for a pre season game is pretty impressive if you ask me.
It equates to one tenth of the population.
The Hurricanes Blues crowd can largely also be attributed to Tuiu Breweries for which Mangatainoka is famous for
Justin said | January 24th 2010 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Troll somewhere else champ…
kick,clap,kick said | January 24th 2010 @ 9:44am | Report comment
& what crowd would a RL QLD v NSW “trial match” get?
Travis said | January 24th 2010 @ 10:41am | Report comment
There’s too much prestige and rivalry in Origin for anyone in RL to ever contemplate having a QLD v NSW trial match. It’s inconceivable. NSW and QLD jerseys are won and earned, not given away in a trial match.
In RU you have turned your once proud states into nothing more than club franchises. They wore maroon and blue jerseys last night but none deserved the honour.
TOCC said | January 24th 2010 @ 1:01pm | Report comment
well i think we could argue that it would receive a larger crowd then a international rugby league trial match.. lol
rugbyfuture said | January 24th 2010 @ 1:30pm | Report comment
i also want to know, what would a trial in lismore get?
Travis said | January 24th 2010 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
The crowd was 3,628. The NSW Origin team drew a crowd of 5000 to a training session there in 2006.
Yikes said | January 24th 2010 @ 4:09pm | Report comment
Well since SOO is the pinnacle of League (far more prestigious than League Tests) I suppose we’ll only know a true comparison when the Wallabies hold an open training session in Lismore and see how many show!
Dogs Of War said | January 24th 2010 @ 4:13pm | Report comment
http://www.leagueunlimited.com/article.php?newsid=17517
Warriors vs Titans crowd for a trial at Lismore was 5117. That was last year.
Gooda said | January 24th 2010 @ 6:22pm | Report comment
Again you got to see a large number of stars rather than just trialists. Look at the sides that played yesterday. Not one big name really.
Dave said | January 26th 2010 @ 7:48am | Report comment
Lismore is not known for its rugby union teams or competitions. Thats not surprise but good on the NSW and QLD franchises for taking the game there.
Nick said | January 24th 2010 @ 6:57pm | Report comment
What would it get??? would it get 18 000 people like we did, stormers vs western force, SA team vs Aus team. would it get a full house for a pre season game, sharks vs stormers. am waiting a reply with interest.
Ryan said | January 24th 2010 @ 11:27am | Report comment
Travis and KCK, have you been living under a rock. Incase you missed the memo the Waratahs have been a club side for the last 15 years not a rep side
Norm said | January 24th 2010 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
You’re indulging in semantics.
Travis said | January 24th 2010 @ 3:46pm | Report comment
So you admit Ryan that the Red and Waratahs are a sham and no longer represent the rugby strength of their state.
Hoy said | January 24th 2010 @ 4:56pm | Report comment
I think that was obvious when players from both states started playing for other Super 14 CLUBS.
Could the similar argument be that the Parramatta Eels are no longer a representation of the Parramatta region? Or Brisbane actually playing players from other cities means that the Brisbane Broncos are a sham?
They are professional clubs now champ. I don’t know what you are looking for here.
Travis said | January 24th 2010 @ 5:37pm | Report comment
The NRL clubs have never been representative teams.
“kick,clap,kick” tried to compare NSW v QLD in both codes. In league the state jerseys have always been earned on talent, not handed out to a player by signing a contract for $, which is what happens now with the Waratahs and Reds.
The Reds and Waratahs are not comparable to the Blues. The Waratahs are just a club franchise comparable to the Swans and Sydney FC.
Gooda said | January 24th 2010 @ 6:27pm | Report comment
Hand up if you care? I don’t care. I wouldn’t care if that were the case in league. I don’t care where they are from but who wins. You don’t watch the game talking about which suburb of Sydney each player is from.
Hoy said | January 24th 2010 @ 6:45pm | Report comment
I am still not sure what is the point here. The Super 14 sides haven’t been state rep teams since rugby went pro 15 years ago.
Travis said | January 24th 2010 @ 8:29pm | Report comment
The Waratahs and Reds should stop trading on the history of the state teams before 1995. They should stop pretending and passing off that they are a continuation of the state representative teams that played for a century before that.
big Kev said | January 25th 2010 @ 11:23pm | Report comment
but the SoO is only 3 games a year! What a monkey
Travis said | January 26th 2010 @ 7:26am | Report comment
Where’s the RU State of Origin series? That’s right. There isn’t one and never will be one. And we all know little Kev that YOU watch all three Origin games every year.
Ryan said | January 26th 2010 @ 9:45am | Report comment
Give Super Rugby time and it can develop into something special in terms state/city rivalry. Waratahs already have it with Reds and Brumbies, throw Melbourne into that mix and you have something to get excited about. SOO and Bledisloe are the pinnacle and should be goal.
Ryan said | January 24th 2010 @ 6:54pm | Report comment
Spot on Hoyo
JamesI said | January 24th 2010 @ 12:58pm | Report comment
OK, back to the game rather than tiresome code bickering. Only a trial with the wider squad members I appreciate, but as a Reds fan I am heartened that they came back to win afer being behind late in the match.
As Jim Tucker said in his report in the Courier Mail:
“The Waratahs looked home at 24-16 with just over six minutes to play, yet the Reds produced the late-winning flurry they have so often despaired of finding during years in the doldrums.”
In past years we probably would have put the white flag up and let in two more tries.
Can any Randwick supporters tell me more about Tim Walsh who played 5/8th – sounds like he had a good game. Thanks.
kick,clap,kick said | January 24th 2010 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
Travis and KCK, have you been living under a rock. Incase you missed the memo the Waratahs have been a club side for the last 15 years not a rep side
QLD Reds V NSW Tahs…
Only one team in each state with their state at the beginning of their name …sounds like state v state to me.
mw said | January 24th 2010 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
Seems to me RL dreams about strong international and provincial competitions.
Dave said | January 24th 2010 @ 1:50pm | Report comment
And what do the NZ Warriors sound like kick in the head ?
Crashy said | January 24th 2010 @ 1:36pm | Report comment
Christ almighty mungos
You have destroyed yet another perfectly good article with your childish, immature and uneducated claptrap.
I’m getting tired of this.
You wonder why the League vs Union thing will never die out.
rugbyfuture said | January 24th 2010 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
they asked us to stop commenting on their articles so we did, but they continue on ours, in every single article
Crashy said | January 24th 2010 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
keyboard cowboys indeed.
Greater Lismore has a population of 42,000. To see 9% of the population come out to see a trial game between 2 teams who were not playing any of their frontline players is a good result. The grandstand was booked out days in advance and there were a host of rugby games played that day as well.
Not bad for a sweltering January day. I know not how someone can put a negative spin on it and from the highlights on Fox sports, the 5 tries looked ok to me.
By the way Rugbyfuture ( and I promise I am not having a go at your former school!) I was surprised to see that Alos have only won the CAS rugby comp a couple of times. We had a stack of Alos players in my old boys club and they were all good players. pls explain
rugbyfuture said | January 24th 2010 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
have always had a policy of not going for sports scholarships, only cranbrook and us have done that mostly the entire existence of the competition and waverly only stopped after the islander riots of bondi a couple of years ago. most of the boys who are good enough get poached early on in their school career by joeys and view, with view being the brother school. but we have patty mccabe and jono owen at the brumbies super 14 squad this year and our team last year for the firsts were full of future stars. also, we only have one proper home ground, the others being reclaimed council grounds in the bays of the north shore, really muggy and swamp like places. we certainly develop passion for the game, but it isn’t of primary importance to what the school calls its community development.
jeznez said | January 24th 2010 @ 2:20pm | Report comment
some pretty good talent spotters at my alma mater Joey’s then. In my year thirteen of the first XV had been at the school from year seven! Get them working for the tahs and we’ll be going gang busters in ten years time. Kings with Parry coaching the school and the GPS sides was the school that attracted all the talent as it came through but it wasn’t scholarships it was the chance to play for the representative coach.
Don’t dismiss 116 years of tradition and passion with myths of rugby scholarships, in my day there were two scholarships offered each year at SJC and they were academic. However in those days it was compulsory to play rugby in winter, that has changed now with soccer being introduced but the school will always be a rugby school. Its called tradition.
rugbyfuture said | January 24th 2010 @ 8:24pm | Report comment
yeh a couple of our best players in our prep squad got packed up and sent to joeys in year 7. how can u resist the pink and violet strip
jeznez said | January 25th 2010 @ 11:35pm | Report comment
ha ha ha! that’s cerise and blue mate! and don’t you forget it.
rugbyfuture said | January 26th 2010 @ 12:49am | Report comment
we all know what the difference is…… (rolls eyes)
Crashy said | January 24th 2010 @ 2:05pm | Report comment
Fair enough RF. I would be very much be surprised if my former CAS school offered rugby scholarships but interesing nonetheless.
No argument re Waverley. I used to really enjoy playing at Queen’s Park and coming back to find my ( and team mates) belongings had been pilfered while we were playing.
Assume you are referring to Tunks Park?
rugbyfuture said | January 24th 2010 @ 2:10pm | Report comment
im going trinity possibly for a pick for you as they were losing to us in the final years of my schooling (although swimming scholarships are prevailent). if not barker. (i’ll hold my school insults) yeh im refferring to tunks and primrose parks and even willoughby park was a crappily maintained pitch.
Cattledog said | January 24th 2010 @ 9:48pm | Report comment
Aaaah, Tunks and Primrose Parks…had nearly forgotten I played some of my first (and finest) games over 45 years ago on those grounds. To an 8 yo, I thought they were in pretty good shape!!
rugbyfuture said | January 24th 2010 @ 10:08pm | Report comment
……….maybe 45 years ago hahaha, practically swamps whenever we played on them, my brother was once covered in 3 cm of mud at one game, thats the entire body
Cattledog said | January 24th 2010 @ 10:28pm | Report comment
It’s all flooding back. Now that you mention it, I think I was covered in mud more times than not…perhaps that’s why I have fond memories! lol
rugbyfuture said | January 24th 2010 @ 10:35pm | Report comment
yeh cept in the years i played you had the really really muddy bits, then coz of drought u had the really really hard bits (bad for my long studded high length prop boots)
BS said | January 24th 2010 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
Unfortunately for rugby league, sport is no different to other businesses and categories. The fact is, everything is consolidating and becoming global. If you do not have global appeal you die. There isn’t the population in oz to sustain league long term however I suspect that with the larger fan base the afl will be around alot longer. Just my 2 bobs worth…
Bay35Pablo said | January 24th 2010 @ 7:31pm | Report comment
BS, I disagree. League and AFL will do fine for several decades more. However, union’s global reach could help sustain it through that time, and give it n edge in the very long term.
Sam el Perro said | January 25th 2010 @ 9:47pm | Report comment
Out of curiosity on this point, what is the population required to sustain league in Australia long term? 30 million? 40 million?
And what is the population required to sustain union? Aussie rules? Caber tossing?