The Waratahs habe defeated the Melbourne Rebels 23-20 in Michael Hooper’s 100th match for New South Wales.
On a dewy night in Sydney the visiting Rebels made multiple changes. Jack Maddocks replaced Semisi Tupou in the starting line-up along with Richard Hardwick, Matt Gibbon, Anaru Rangi and captain Matt Philip. The Waratahs were without the obvious exception of Israel Folau and also Ned Hanigan. Michael Hooper and Jed Holloway came into the starting side and Curtis Rona was placed on the bench.
The Rebels lost speedster Jack Maddocks in the third minute due to a failed head injury assessment. He was replaced by former Reds player Campbell Magnay. The Rebels struggled early with ill-discipline, conceding three penalties inside eight minutes. The Waratahs were unable to capitalise on these mistakes, though, as Bernard Foley missed a kick for touch and instead sent it rolling over the dead-ball line. A high tackle by the Waratahs in the 11th minute gave Quade Cooper the opportunity to kick the Rebels into the lead, and he duly obliged.
Momentum changed quickly, however, when a Rob Simmons offload put Harry Johnson-Holmes through a gaping hole on the Rebels ten-metre line. A quick recycle allowed Jed Holloway to find space on the left wing, and with options outside and inside, he popped it inside to Adam Ashley-Cooper, who cantered in for the first try of the game. Bernard Foley kicked the conversion over to give the Rebels a four-point lead after 20 minutes.
Michael Hooper of the Waratahs (Tony Feder/Getty Images)
The Rebels then took the lead four minutes later when Reece Hodge accelerated through a gap in the Waratahs defensive line to score under the posts for a converted try. The try was somewhat controversial due to the fact that Marika Koroibete appeared to have impeded Waratahs winger Alex Newsome in a contest for a high ball. The ball landed on the ground and into the hands of a Rebels player and Hodge scored from the next phase.
After the half-time siren Michael Wells infringed at a Rebels maul (from the lineout), which allowed Hodge to add another penalty goal to the Rebels score as they took a 20-7 lead into the break.
The second half saw the Waratahs take the ascendancy. Knock-ons were traded by both sides but it was the Rebels’ poor discipline that brought the Waratahs back into the match. The Rebels conceded five penalties between the 46th and 56th minute, which allowed Foley to slot home two penalty goals. The Tahs were now within striking distance and capitalised on a Rebels’ lineout mistake. Anaru Rangi overthrew at the set-piece and Foley beat his opposite number, Cooper, to the ball. With no-one placed at fullback for the visitors, Foley outpaced his opponents to the line and brought the Waratahs level with the Melbourne side.
Another two penalties conceded by the Rebels meant referee Damon Murphy placed them on last warning. It also allowed Foley to score another penalty kick and take his personal points tally to eighteen points.
When replacement Sam Talakai infringed in the 71st minute, the Rebels eighth penalty of the half, referee Murphy had seen enough and delivered him a yellow card.
Despite the Rebels’ best efforts, the Waratahs were not to be denied, and they clung on to record a 23-20 win. The win for the Tahs means the Rebels have not beaten their rivals from north of the border since 2016.
The Waratahs will next week face the Sharks from South Africa, a side reeling from a seven-point loss to the Reds. The game will be played at the new Bankwest Stadium in Western Sydney.
The Rebels have the bye next week before travelling to Wellington in Round 12 to take on the Hurricanes at Westpac Stadium.
josh
Guest
Rugby has no business being in Western Sydney.
josh
Guest
Derby ?
Flyman
Roar Rookie
Waxhead - I reckon Saders vs Canes or Chiefs in the final.
Flyman
Roar Rookie
That game was absolute shxte, very poor performance from the top players. After watching Blues/Highlanders, this was rubbish footy.
riddler
Roar Rookie
am with rhys, qlder giving praise to the tahs when due. they are ozzie are after all.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Okay, since you don’t understand Redsfan, I will explain. Australia needs world class attack in order to compete internationally. World class attack requires a well rounded playmaker. Foley despite being a courageous utility back lacks the all-round playmaking skill to unlock defences. Quade, while being flawed, has more playmaking skill and can, in a well selected team, unlock defences. Well may you misunderstand the fuss about Cooper. Many of us are astounded at Cheika’s and your satisfaction with the creatively limited Foley. Love Bernard. Great servant of Tahs and WBs but a playmaker has to be able to unleash others. Quade ticks that box like no other in the country, imo.
Short Arm
Roar Rookie
Geez, with that much possession in the 2nd half you'd hope Foley would've looked better. In the first half with more balanced possession I'd give the points to Quade I think. Foley missed touch with a couple of penalty kicks & dropped off a couple of tackles. Quade dropped a couple of high balls but defended reasonably well- that's all he could do in the 2nd half. I thought Coleman had a poor game, is he unfit? He really struggled in the last 20mins.
Rhys Bosley
Roar Pro
These were most unusual circumstances, normal services will resume next week :-)
Ruckin Oaf
Guest
Hey Rhys, I thought you were a fan of the Qld Reds. I must be terribly mistaken I can't really imagine a Qlder using "good, Tahs and win" in the same sentence unless in the most unusual of circumstances :) :) :)
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
Yes agree FWM :) This season is only about who will play Crusaders in the Final. Same as last year :) Canes, Chiefs have had a slow start but will no doubt improve in coming weeks. The big plus in NZ is the big improvement of the Blues :)
dirtyrottenscoundrel
Guest
The SGC is not a good venue for Rugby and neither is Homebush. Hope the new stadium at Parramatta is, I'm tired of watching games on TV.
AJ
Guest
Well done to the Tahs to scrap it out but that was a terrible game. There were multiple periods where nothing happened except drops and scrum resets, eg first 5 minutes of the second half. At 28m they seemed to have an early half time break...is that like morning tea or something? I had looked forward to this game all day and it was a big let down. Did someone say that was the last game at the SCG? Can we make that the last game EVER, unless it's daytime with white clothing.
ForwardsWinMatches
Guest
Waxhead, it’s Crusaders first and daylight second. Leaving aside the no-game draw against the Highlanders, they are 5-0 against the other NZ teams with an average winning margin of 20 points over the second best team, Hurricanes. NZ teams are 6-3 against Aussie teams so far. Foley’s miss at the death against the Canes is one to create anguish. It goes over and it’s 5-4. A big “if” I know. Not suggesting there is any good reason to get excited about Aussie rugby but I’d be very interested to know what the ABs brains trust is thinking with the Canes, Chiefs and Highlanders looking ordinary compared to recent seasons.
ZSport
Roar Pro
I agree that Beale did have a great kicking game last night. He also took some excellent high balls under pressure. The Waratahs should leave him at 15 for the rest of the season. I think he needs to continue to improve in that area of the game. With Folau now gone, one thing I believe the Wallabies do lack is a quality fullback. Beale can certainly play that role at the World Cup. We have got plenty of good centres in Meakes, AAC, Hunt, Kuridrani, Kerevi etc. Beale can become the genuine fullback Australia needs.
Rhys Bosley
Roar Pro
It was definitely a grinding match, but it was also good to see that the Tahs can get the win despite the difficult circumstances this week.
ForwardsWinMatches
Guest
Foley’s two misses for touch, in the first 8 minutes, were pretty much unforgivable. He was lucky his coach didn’t pull him but any objective observer would have to acknowledge he out-pointed QC for the balance of the match. The match wasn’t high on quality but I thought the Tahs executed their game plan better - the kicks to QC paid dividends in the 2nd half. The Rebels tactical kicking was worse. Beale did well. It’s the only position he should be considered for re Wallabies (except bench) and that is against Hodge and DHP. Staniforth has a really good impact. Why isn’t he starting with Holloway at 8, Hooper at 7 and Dempsey/Hanigan at 6. Strong lineout with that combo and much better ball carrying.
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
Zanden calls this a grinding game :) I call it a VERY low quality game. Full of unforced errors and ill discipline that cannot be blamed on what were good conditions. This was another horrible display by both Aussie teams. The contrast in quality becomes so obvious in these aussie derbies when there's a NZ derby on immediately before. The 2 worst NZ teams were way better than the 2 best aussie teams. The Rebels just handed the game to Tahs in 2nd half when any of the NZ teams would have scored at least 40 points against Tahs in the 2nd half. This game again showed it makes no difference which Aust teams gets an undeserved spot in the Finals this yr. They'll be easily knocked in the 1st semi as usual. Reds were the best Aust teams this round but they won't make the finals - it'll be either a poor Tahs or a poor Rebels :)
Redsfan1
Guest
Quade Cooper has been so overrated. I don't understand the obsession with him. In a tough grinding game, like this one, he goes missing. The much maligned Foley outplayed him.