The New South Wales Waratahs have hung on to record a gritty 40-32 win over the Queensland Reds in an entertaining Aussie derby.
The Reds were coming off a six-point loss to the Rebels last week and were looking to bounce back against their traditional rivals. The Waratahs had just finished their two-game tour of South Africa where they suffered two close losses.
In cool conditions at Suncorp Stadium, Bernard Foley put the ‘Tahs ahead inside five minutes.
The visitors applied early pressure upon the Reds and the defensive line eventually broke. The ball was cleared from the back of the ruck by Nick Phipps in midfield to find Bernard Foley on the left. Foley, marked by Taniela Tupou, shaped to pass before putting his head down and diving over for the try. He also converted his own try from just left of the uprights.
Just moments later, the Reds were denied a try after a TMO review by referee Ben O’Keeffe. The ball was deemed to have been just short of the line and therefore, no try.
This did not worry the home side though as they tried again to get over the chalk. They eventually succeeded when youngster Angus Blyth burrowed his way over from close range on the left wing. Bryce Hegarty’s conversion attempt hit the post, leaving the score at 7-5.
Only four minutes later, the Reds had a scrum in midfield on the halfway line. They went right to captain Samu Kerevi who busted through Foley’s tackle and strode ahead. He seemed to have been wrapped up in the next tackle but he flicked it out to right winger, Jock Campbell.
Campbell had no-one in front of him as he ran in for the first try of his Super Rugby career. Hegarty’s conversion attempt once again hit the uprights and the score stayed at 10-7 in favour of the home side.
The ‘Tahs looked to regain the lead and they did so in scrappy fashion. Deep in Reds’ territory, Kurtley Beale looked to have forced his way over. A TMO review was required when it was discovered that the ball had been knocked backwards, only for Michael Wells to grab the opportunity and dive on the ball. A try was awarded and the Foley conversion restored the ‘Tahs’ lead to four points.
News came through in the 27th minute that Reds’ loosehead prop, JP Smith, had failed his Head Injury Assessment and would not return to the field. Harry Hoopert played the remainder of the match in his absence.
Twelve minutes before halftime, the Reds made their way into the Waratahs’ 22. Hegarty placed an awkward grubber kick through the line and a horrible bounce caused Beale to fumble the ball. Lukhan Salakai-Loto made an incredible pick-up off the ground and handed it off to Matt McGahan who slipped it on to Sefa Naivalu. Naivalu skipped down the left-hand touchline and dotted down for the Reds’ third try of the evening. Hegarty missed the conversion.
An obstruction penalty conceded by Michael Hooper after the half-time siren meant the score at halftime remained 15-14 to the Reds.
The Reds’ struck straight after the break, courtesy of an intercept by Chris Feaua-Sautia. The inside centre pounced on a stray pass in midfield and set off towards the try-line. He was chased down Beale but managed to pop it up to Hegarty who streaked away for the five-pointer. This time, Hegarty did add the extras.
(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
The ‘Tahs hit back four minutes later to tighten things up once again. Five metres out in the middle of the field, winger Alex Newsome ran a bustling channel on Nick Phipps’ left shoulder. Phipps found Newsome and the winger had no-one in front of him as he slid in under the sticks. Foley kicked the conversion to make the score 22-21, the Reds still ahead.
The tries kept coming as the Reds scored once more. From the back of the scrum, Hegarty received the ball at flyhalf and ran at the line. He stepped off his left past Phipps and then once more to score under the posts for the hosts. In unusual circumstances, Phipps, who missed the tackle on Hegarty, charged down the conversion leaving the scores at 27-21.
It was only five minutes until the next try was scored, this time from the Waratahs. Inches from the try-line, Beale delivered a short ball to Michael Wells who ran a strong line to crash over for the New South Welshman. Foley’s conversion gave the Waratahs a slender one-point lead heading into the final 25 minutes.
Foley added a penalty kick to his name to extend the lead to four points before the Reds’ returned fire once again.
Playing under a penalty advantage, Matt McGahan unleashed a cross-field kick towards the left-hand corner. He found an unlikely candidate in hooker Alex Mafi. But Mafi showed the feet of a winger as he danced around Newsome and put the Reds’ ahead by one. Hegarty didn’t have the radar working, missing yet another conversion.
Mick
Guest
Yeah unfortunately the far superior Cronk was stuck behind a kid called David Rimmer in the Australian Schoolboys of 2000. Anyone know what Rimmer did after High School ?
Redbeard
Roar Rookie
In protest against both the ARU and QRU, I didn’t attend ( but listened to the radio broadcast) “..”……………… However, ~ 12,000 to the equivalent of an Origin shows the dire state of Rugby in Oz. ……….. Such games in the past would pack the house. ( ~12,000 on Saturday night vs up to 50,000+ in the past). The QRU must be crying!,…And if not, why..???.”..lllllllllll According to the radio announcers , the referring played a significant impact on the final out come…llll………..(;and my favourite referee not, Angus Gardner, was in the Bunker, Should a Referee ever be sin+binned???). …”…….lll. Was impressed by the Reds attitude and skills when displayed. So Thorn is doing some things right. However. I understand the team will be decimated at the end of this season and the QRU won’t have funds to keep players nor attract other players of quantity. With respect to the two teams that ran onto Lang Park on Saturday night, it was a major mismatch in terms of the experience and capabilities . I do feel for Hegarty ( three near misses that hit the woodwork!), but he shouldn’t have taken conversions penalties after two misses- it messes with ones head and confidence going forward. Desperate need for a Reds back-up kicker!!
Onside
Guest
Cooper Cronk who has just announced his NRL retirement could ( my fantasy, just sayin' ) have been playing for the Reds on Saturday night. Cooper Cronk attended St. Laurence's College, South Brisbane from 1994 to 2001, and played in the School's 1st XV rugby union side for several years. Wasn't Cronk a credit to sport in Australia.
Jimbo81
Guest
Reds ripped off. Shocking refereeing. Tahs don’t deserve the win. Also: if Quade threw as many intercepts as Foley, the calls for his head would be deafening
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
I’m no Foley fan - I thought he had a very good game, probably won it for Tahs, all things considered.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Yep, I thought Hegarty looked pretty good. I was also hoping that at half time Thorn might move MCGahan to 10 and Hegs to 15 just to see what happened.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Mate we could pull out the microscope all day but bottom line is Reds were not robbed. Tahs showed good composure to stay in and win the game. Both sides played some good rugby for patches but on average were about 6.5/10 standard.
amband
Roar Rookie
Bravo NSW. Well done
Paul D
Roar Rookie
"The wells try was off a clear forward pass by beale that wasn’t checked." If you want to play slo-mo replay referee, so was the pop off the ground by CFS to Hegarty
riddler
Roar Rookie
three ozzies in the guardian's premiership team of the season. morahan and taqele on the wings, big will in the second row. big will also received the players player of the year award at sarries.
Piripiri
Roar Rookie
1..The wells try was off a clear forward pass by beale that wasn’t checked. 2..late penalty against reds lead to 3 points for tahs was clearly tahs prop fault where clear replay shows elbow pointing to ground pulling reds prop down 3 ..another penalty late in the game for reds offside and yet replay showed No one offside at all!! ..3 points! R That’s 13 points the tahs shouldn’t have got late in the game. Add to that incidents such as hannigan repeatedly taking players out beyond the ruck not being called and think Red could feel ripped off. There was an incident in the middle of the game where both teams were lining up each side of the 22 line for a throw in. Ref told tahs couple times to get off line but tahs proceeded to cross the line. Ref was in awe of the tahs and his calls showed it!
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
I'm not sure the side to side stuff is their fault, I think it's the coach's game plan. They did it last year too and it worked well because they had Taqele on the edge making things happen. It's much less effective this year without him. He was a big loss.
PeterK
Roar Guru
I wouldn't pick Beale to start, however I know Cheika will at either 12 or 15 so 15 is the lesser evil
Diamond Jackie
Roar Rookie
The reds were very unlucky not to win. The side to side to side approach of Phipps - foley- Beale May be good to watch but it’s absolutely ineffective across a full game. These three and AAC must be nowhere near the wallabies. It’s stuff the of 2014.
Dahl
Roar Rookie
Does Genia play for the tahs or reds?
TimO
Roar Rookie
He scored two impressive tries, and generally had a good game. Some of the kicks he was missing weren't hard, so maybe he choked, but he hit the posts a couple of times so a bit unlucky too. I think he's a good honest player, and he knows how to spot a gap and run into it, but I like him more as a full-back. For me, he doesn't seem to quite have the time and composure or the game management that top fly-halves (Larkem, Lyner, Carter) have. But nor do some of the other fly-halves playing super rugby I suppose. Maybe with more time in the position?
Daveski 2.0
Roar Rookie
That was Clark charged down
Charles Plowdog
Roar Rookie
Exciting match. Unfortunately poor kicking from Hegarty ensured no bonus point for the Reds. Otherwise he played well and looked good. Best game I've seen by Beale for a while: he may have locked in the 15 spot for the Wallabies. I see no comment about Genia. He looked a bit tired and overdid his kicking which was generally poor. Makes me worry given the lack of high level game time for other 9s in the Wallabies, except for Phipps. The Reds may miss Slipper. But overall the Reds failed to close the game out and gave the ball too often to the tahs who found ways to attack, in the last 15 mins.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Foley also had an intercept too
Adsa
Roar Rookie
Two games running where Thorns use of the bench has been poor.