Waratahs defeat Reds in Super Rugby AU trial

New Waratahs skipper leads the way as NSW win a high-scoring trial over arch rivals.

Waratahs captain Jake Gordon, pictured at the Super Rugby AU launch this week, scored two tries against the Reds in a trial match Picture: Getty Images

A try-scoring double by captain on debut Jake Gordon helped NSW to the bragging rights over arch rivals Queensland in an entertaining and high-scoring trial match at Narrabri on Friday night.

These two sides will meet on February 19 in the official opening match of Super Rugby AU at Suncorp Stadium and it is fair to say that both teams will be radically reshaped when competition points are on the line. But for a side that has been accorded little respect in recent times, it was clearly important to the Tahs that they emerged as winners.

Indeed, they finished the match in desperate pursuit of the mythical 50 points barrier as they hammered the Reds line. They didn’t quite make it but still finished comfortably in front 45-33 after five-eighth Will Harrison and centre Joey Walton combined for two tries in the final 10 minutes of play to clinch the victory.

But it was Gordon, captaining the side for the first time, who captured the imagination of the Narrabri crowd with two outlandish tries. The first came with a quarterback-style lunge over the top of the Reds pack in the 35th minute of play to put the Tahs 19-14 in front, a lead they maintained until halftime.

Then, six minutes into the second half, he went for a quick tap just short of the Queensland line, overdid it so badly that he kicked the ball forward but then had the presence of mind to regather it for a try that left the Reds scratching their heads in bewilderment.

The Reds, who led twice in the first half, regained the lead with 15 minutes remaining when Test winger Filipo Daugunu showed electric pace down the left wing to score, but it would have been of concern to coach Brad Thorn that NSW so completely dominated the rest of the match.

The trial, the solitary workout for both sides in a season that again has been cramped by COVID restrictions, also featured the debut appearance in rugby of Reds code-hopping winger, Suliasi Vunivalu. His last game of football was the NRL grand final for the Melbourne Storm but there were no try-scoring heroics from him this time as the Reds struggled to bring him into the game.

They did try hard, with five-eighth Lawson Creighton launching a crossfield bomb in his direction only to overkick it fractionally. Still, it is a fair bet to assume that the Reds will explore that particular action with regularity this season. Nonetheless, Vunivalu looked comfortably at home on the rugby field, shutting down a couple of promising NSW attacks and generally making himself useful in attack.

Delighted as he would have been to secure the win, Tahs coach Rob Penney surely must have been even more thrilled with the confident way his side moved the ball. Most of the stars in the NSW have departed, with Jack Dempsey the most capped Wallaby in the side, but the youngsters on display all carried the ball with verve and skill. There were signs of deft footwork, too, as the Tahs carried the ball into contact and the Reds’ eager defence was able to land only one “bellringer” of a tackle during the entire 80 minutes.

If the NSW pack is able to deliver the ball – and Angus Bell, Lachie Swinton and hooker Tom Horton certainly give the impression they can handle that assignment – then the backline of Gordon, Harrison, Walton, Alex Newsome and Jack Maddocks looks fully capable of converting possession into points.

The Reds lineout was again disappointing, repeatedly slowing up the game by making themselves available for the set piece only at the last minute. If they then managed to win the ball, it might not have been so bad, but they repeatedly bungled their throw and must have lost their own ball at least half a dozen times.

That said, number eight Seru Uru was prominent throughout, never more so than when he pounced on to loose ball at the back of the ruck before racing 25m to score a stunning try untouched in the 25th minute.

Indeed, the first two Reds tries came from spectacular breaks, with fullback Jock Campbell carrying on from last season’s form with a dazzling right foot step to bamboozle NSW inside centre Tepai Moeroa before sending halfback Moses Sorovi over for the opening try of the game in the third minute.

Moeroa shook his head in despair at missing the tackle, the very picture of a man intending to rectify the mistake at the first opportunity. And that was precisely what he did, slipping a sublime short pass just three minutes later to lock Michael Wood on the charge for a rebuttal try to the Tahs.