The Waratahs survived an early Reds barrage to run away with the match, winning 31-5.
Photos courtesy of Keith McInnes photography.
The Match
The Waratahs had the better of the early skirmishes, but the Reds established dominance at the set piece from minute one. Bernard Foley opened the scoring with a 17th minute penalty, and that was the only score for the half. The game was dominated by physical defence by both sides, and precious little space for either backline. No team got close to scoring, and a few early injuries hampered key players in both sides- Nick Phipps damaged his knee, James O’Connor his ankle and James Slipper his wrist. JOC went off early and Slipper did not return for the second half.
Phipps and Foley were lacklustre for the whole first 40, with Foley kicking the ball out on the full, and kicking a penalty dead at a crucial stage. Quade Cooper had some nice touches, but rarely had any front-foot ball with which to work. Will Skelton and Sekope Kepu were bringing a physical edge to the Waratah defence, and despite a few nice runs from Slipper, Liam Gill and Adam Thomson the Reds struggled to make headway in tight.
The Reds dominated the Tahs at the lineout, with Rob Simmons, Jake Schatz and Thomson disrupting almost every throw, and stealing a couple. The Reds had the better of the scrum early, but the Tahs pegged them back as the match went on.
The second half began with more vigour than the first, and soon a key moment came, with Thomson sent to the sin bin for being offside when the Tahs were hot on attack. The Reds had a few periods of attack early, but nice runs from Israel Folau, Taqele Naiyaravoro and Jaques Potgieter saw the Waratahs find some good field position to launch their attack. They didn’t disappoint, with Dave Dennis crashing over thanks to a lovely inside pass from Foley.
The home side had their tails up, and kept the foot on the accelerator. A midfield lineout was given to Israel Folau, who broke four tackles to take the Tahs well into the Reds 22. From that ruck Phipps passed to Potgieter who carried Lachie turner over the line for the try. Foley added the extras and all of a sudden a close game had blown out, with the score at 17-0.
It wasn’t going to get any easier for Reds fans, with the Tahs scoring their third ten minutes later, with Foley breaking through some soft Reds defence and finding Brendan McKibbin on the inside who scored under the posts. And they kept rolling, with Dean Mumm adding his name to the scoresheet soonafter from close range.
The Reds found some consolation late through a lovely try to Quade Cooper, gassing Michael Hooper and scoring in the corner. If that was his last play in a Queensland jersey (which I honestly hope it isn’t) then it was a great summary of his time in red.
Random Observations
Taqele Naiyaravoro is a beast, and when he gets involved in the tighter channels he is a real weapon for the Waratahs. He still hasn’t shown enough to convince me he is international standard, though, and the Reds pulled him down most times he got into space.
The Reds really struggled for go-forward ball in their pack, and were outgunned by the Tahs big men. I expected a bit more out Rob Simmons and James Horwill, who really struggled outside of the set piece.
Bernard Foley had a shocker of a first half, but really came back nicely in the second. Once his forward runners found some front-foot ball he looked a lot more at ease, though I wonder what Quade would have done with similar momentum.
Queensland just looked generally uninspired. Lacking physicality and energy. Had a mountain of ball but never really looked like scoring until the game was dead.
Will Genia had a nice game, and was probably the best for the visitors. Looked assured at the ruck base, and created the best of the Reds chances. He’s not the Genia of 3 or 4 years ago, but still a quality player in the big games.
Adam Ashley-Cooper spurned a couple of great chances by failing to pass to his outside men. I’m not a massive an of the ‘AAC can’t pass’ stereotype, but as Wallaby stereotypes go it has more truth than most. Though it’s not that he can’t pass, more than he won’t.
Was nice for the NSW crowd to give a standing ovation to Genia as he was subbed off. What a classy bunch.
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The Game Changer
The yellow card to Adam Thomson put the wind in the Waratahs sails and they capitalised on the man advantage over the ensuing ten minutes, scoring two tries and establishing physical dominance. The injury to Slipper was also a massive blow to the visitors’ hopes.
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The G&GR MOTM
The Tahs won it with their forward runners, and the best of those was Jacques Potgieter. He made a couple of big runs which set up Waratah tries, one of which he scored himself. Honourable mentions to Israel Folau, Will Genia and Wycliff Palu.
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Wallaby watch
You’d have to say that in almost every match-up the NSW player came away on top. Special mentions go to the outstanding scrum work of BOTH Greg Holmes and Sekope Kepu, and the all-around play of Dave Dennis, who put in a big game against Wallaby opponents. The battle of the 10s was probably edged by Bernard Foley, though Quade Cooper did well with no forward momentum.
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The Details
Crowd: 26,746
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”] Waratahs 31
Tries: Dennis, Potgieter, McKibbin, Mumm
Conversions: Foley 4
Penalties: Foley 1 [/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”] Reds 5
Tries: Cooper
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Cards & citings
YC – Adam Thomson (offside)
