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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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- Chris Hickey, Reds, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Waratahs
January 24th 2010 @ 2:37pm
jeznez said | January 24th 2010 @ 2:37pm | Report comment
Penalties in a trial, three of them? Definitely not believing the hype from Phil Waugh that the Tahs will be playing running rugby this year.
January 24th 2010 @ 3:24pm
Harry said | January 24th 2010 @ 3:24pm | Report comment
Those Queensland jerseys look even worse than I feared.
January 24th 2010 @ 4:56pm
BS said | January 24th 2010 @ 4:56pm | Report comment
Why all the angst from rugby league supporters, the constant comparisons and one upsmanship? In my eyes, all sport is good – some merely better than others.
Often people who are constantly comparing are sufferring from an inferiority complex…
January 24th 2010 @ 10:13pm
Blinky Bill of Bellingen said | January 24th 2010 @ 10:13pm | Report comment
I drove to Lismore and included the Reds V Tahs as part of a 4 day camping trip and reckon the game and the crowd were great. 3,600 and the ground looked & sounded pretty good. The place was crawling with family & kids. and had a really nice feel to the occassion. Wife & I were happy.
We hoped to see running Rugby & were very happy with what we saw. Now I just hope that when the final team gets picked, that we don’t revert back to hoofing the pill as our first option. Been there, done that! Bonus points here we come.
January 25th 2010 @ 7:30am
Rickety Knees said | January 25th 2010 @ 7:30am | Report comment
BBoB – who impressed you?
January 25th 2010 @ 10:18am
Blinky Bill of Bellingen said | January 25th 2010 @ 10:18am | Report comment
Who impressed? Where we sat (Northern end), Murphy’s Law too often applied & the Tahs action was at the Southern end. But hey such is life.
So here goes:-
Anesi – I liked what I saw from him at FB. Good defence, good kick & chase, linked well with the backs and didn’t overplay his hand. He would be my choice at 15.
To be frank, overall no other individual player impressed or ‘stood out’, which to my mind isn’t all that bad because they worked as a unit rather than a bunch of individuals, something I think they were occassionally guilty of in the past.
The Tahs scrum was good, so too the lineout. The forwards worked as a pack and I loved their effort at the other end of the paddock resulting in a try from a rolling maul. Sorry my old eyes couldn’t pick out who did what there. But it was great to see the boys working together as a unit & getting a reward.
Halangahu – From what I saw he was okay at 5/8 without being outstanding. Hey it’s our first hit-out, it’s a trial, we’re rusty, etc, etc but I was still hoping he’d show something special that would cause Hickey to ponder if he’s the best for the 5/8 role. From what I saw he’s a very good back-up 5/8 but I’d still reckon Barnes (who was water boy) would be my choice with DH as a back-up for if & when BB gets injured.
Nadolo – Right Wing was this large dark frame with beard & shaven head that I thought was Ratu from Randwick but the program said otherwise. He moved, dropped the ball and missed tackles like Ratu so I wasn’t sure but had my suspicions. Just this morning I have Googled & found Ratu changed his name to Nadolo, so it was him.
IMHO Nadolo needs to change more than his name. He needs to learn to defend, catch a pass, run into a gap AND run over the top of people. He’s a bloody big unit that needs to take some angry pills. I saw him do a nice catch from a high kick and bounce a defender, which the crowd loved, but not much else. So it’s over to the backs coach to show him endless video tapes of Lomu in full flight and maybe the Tahs will have a decent 14.
The Qld team was good too and especially sharp in the backs with some real steppers in there that were difficult to tackle. Being a trial I thought perhaps the teams had opted against penalty kicks but when Qld took several penalties rather than apply pressure and go for the extra points, the crowd gave them some stick which was fun.
On the Tahs – Here’s hoping that Mr. Foley continues his excellent work with the forwards and that the Back’s Coach (is it Wisemantel?) & Head Coach (Hickey) pull their fingers out and give us backs that do more with hard earned clean ball than just boot it away for the forwards to trudge up field and do it all again. I live in hope.
January 25th 2010 @ 3:07pm
True Tah said | January 25th 2010 @ 3:07pm | Report comment
Blinky Bell
do you think big Nadolo will be a shoein for the Tahs in the regular season?
Islanders generally dont play with angry pills in their system, the only exception to this was Lote Tuqiri, who is Nadolo’s cousin…maybe needs to give him a call for a gee up.
Maybe Nadolo is scared about hurting other guys, he weights like 120kg, and is probably as good an athlete as Jonah Lomu.
January 25th 2010 @ 3:45pm
Bay35Pablo said | January 25th 2010 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
TT, maybe Nado needs a fire up from Wycliff’s Mum.
A number of Roarers who seem to have followed Ratu have questioned his skills, technique, team attitude and work ethic, as well as his ability to play S14 and his injury history. The tahs haven’t seen much of him, and those that get excited about him seem to be Roaoers who don’t know much about him, purely on size.
That is, he might go well for the Wicks (or now manly) in club rugby, but can he do the same in S14.
I am not sure when his contract runs out, but if he doesn’t front up he ain’t going to get renewed.
I expect he will be a bench player, perhaps for impact, given the presence of Turner, Mitchell, Anesi and Beale.
January 25th 2010 @ 10:41am
Blue Sue said | January 25th 2010 @ 10:41am | Report comment
Yes Blinky,it was a great turnout. We drove up to Lismore from our holiday house and had a great evening. It only took 2 hours and was worth the drive. The prelim game between the Gold Coast and North Coast was most entertaining as was the main game.
Both sides played some good footy and made their intentions clear from the outset with some heavy contact. It was a little difficult in the second two periods to keep an eye on some of the young players as Queensland did not provide names for the program for players 20-28. There were some great breaks made by both sides and some nippy runners making nice breaks. Disappointing to see the Reds take so many kicks for their penalties. Why, when it is a trial, would you take a penalty kick from 40 out only 3 minutes into the game? Surely kicking for the line and taking the lineout would have been the preferable option when wanting to “trial” your set piece? I think the Reds had about 6 shots at goal through the game. A bit disappointing. The forwards from both sides had some good set piece and the Tahs had a good try from a rolling maul close to the line.
Many of the front line players were missing, or running the water and doing the PR thing, so some very young academy and uncontracted players got the chance to have a go. Players like Peter Betham, Brendan McKibbin, Paddy Ryan, Kane Douglas all accounted for themselves well. Our SA import Hendrik Roodt showed some promising plays in tight. Some of these young guys may be needed at some point in the season should injuries play a part as they have in the past few years.
The real game in 3 weeks time should be a much better guide to the season. We were feeling quite hopeful when we left!
Thanks Lismore for a great event.
January 25th 2010 @ 12:00pm
Blinky Bill of Bellingen said | January 25th 2010 @ 12:00pm | Report comment
We also turn-up early for the Far North Coast (Dolphins is it?) v the Gold Coast Breakers trial that was also a most entertaining game of 4 x 20 minute quarters.
Personally I enjoyed having the Tahs warm-up with drills etc right in front of our Northern stand. And…….I was even happier when I saw some of those sharp passing and cleaning out drills actually happening on the field. Well done boys!
I get Austar installed in 4 days but even so I think I’ll still get myself up to Brisbane for that opening game.
Phil Waugh has come out and stated that they need to play more entertaining & skilled footy and from what I’m seeing we have the players to do it and they are having a crack at it.
January 25th 2010 @ 2:55pm
Rickety Knees said | January 25th 2010 @ 2:55pm | Report comment
Thanks Blinky and Blue Sue
January 24th 2010 @ 11:16pm
westy said | January 24th 2010 @ 11:16pm | Report comment
Good to see the game at Lismore. How did the tahs fullback go ?
January 25th 2010 @ 11:47am
Blinky Bill of Bellingen said | January 25th 2010 @ 11:47am | Report comment
westy – I’ve written my thoughts about Anesi above. Hope that helps.
January 25th 2010 @ 7:38am
matt said | January 25th 2010 @ 7:38am | Report comment
I would have gone but the grandstand was booked out days in advance, and I was under (wifeś) instructions that it was GS only!
Overall, seemed a fair turn out to me.
January 25th 2010 @ 7:40am
formeropenside said | January 25th 2010 @ 7:40am | Report comment
A bit of discussion on the game, rather than the crowd figure, would have been a far better use of time.
Having said that, I agree that it is unfortunate that the Qld and NSW teams are “franchises” rather than State sides. Unfortunately, not only is there swapping between teams, there are also two other teams poaching from the ranks of players developed by Qld and NSW, as they have no ability to develop enough players of their own to be competitive. Why the ARU allowed this to happen I have no idea.
January 25th 2010 @ 7:49am
Justin said | January 25th 2010 @ 7:49am | Report comment
No different to the AFL or NRL really FOS.
January 25th 2010 @ 8:11am
formeropenside said | January 25th 2010 @ 8:11am | Report comment
I dont follow, or even care much about, those codes. I’m old enough to remember the glory days of rugby in the 1990′s, back when State pride was an issue. I miss them.
January 25th 2010 @ 8:21am
Justin said | January 25th 2010 @ 8:21am | Report comment
Fair enough. All I can say is you better have some tapes of that era because it isnt coming back. The game has changed, like it or not. Its 4 pro teams now, soon to be 5 and its irrelevant where the players come from as long as they can play.
January 25th 2010 @ 9:50pm
Sam el Perro said | January 25th 2010 @ 9:50pm | Report comment
In what sense does the AFL have interstate teams as franchies? Or the NRL? Interested in your answer.
January 25th 2010 @ 8:23am
Damo said | January 25th 2010 @ 8:23am | Report comment
Yeh, can we all agree to ignore the trolls and just talk about the game? With no FTA this is one of only two avenues to hear the news.
Who looks good?
Who has picked the first fifteen from those who played?
What’s the pecking order for the three halfbacks?
January 25th 2010 @ 9:36am
Crashy said | January 25th 2010 @ 9:36am | Report comment
nah rugby future – Red and Blue is the colour.
Surprised that you think Barker College offered Rugby Scholarships! Music scholarships or dramatic arts perhaps but I highly doubt rugby scholarships. ( I would point a suspicious finger at our black and blue friends though)
Anyway, its far too long ago for me to keep those CAS competitive juices continuing unless we are talking Old Boys subbies rugby – then that’s a different kettle of fish!
January 25th 2010 @ 9:44am
rugbyfuture said | January 25th 2010 @ 9:44am | Report comment
…. rugby players are often quite good at music and the arts by the scholarships they’re offered, but maybe its just the fact barker had such nice grounds (and a crappy waterpolo pool). but still, we beat everyone at debating and chess……
January 25th 2010 @ 8:50pm
mcxd said | January 25th 2010 @ 8:50pm | Report comment
on a side note, has anyone actually read the words of the waratahs team song ?
http://www.waratahs.com.au/HSBCWaratahs/WaratahsTeamSong/WaratahsTeamSong.aspx
it includes some cracking lines such as:
“We are the mighty Waratahs
Rough and tumble rugby stars
We play the game as it should be played”
“Famous when we run the ball
We can scrum and ruck and maul
Playing the game as it should be played ”
“We’ve got talent
We’ve got heart
We will tear your team apart
Playing the game as it should be played”
i wonder how often they sang the song over the last two years ? maybe just sang the line about being stars over and over again and left the rest ?