On Waratahs 15 vs Reds 11

The stadium had a different vibe to it tonight. There was definitely more interest in what was going on. Regardless of the somewhat tepid pre game talk, tonight's match was about Quade Cooper vs Kurtly Beale, two contenders for the same spot on the national team. In my mind Cooper, from Queensland, came off the better play maker. For the love of God someone free up Gits to play as an inside. Another one to watch was Digby Ionne, the man cuts through backlines like butter. Makes Loti look slow and old. Pete Hynes made Loti look slow as well, actually everyone did. Cliffie Palu still raged like a bull. Polotu Nau did some damage and, more interestingly, was consistent in his line out throws. Tahu did alright, caught a lucky break that took us over the line. The man deserves a bit of luck.

The game felt far more balanced watching it live than what is shown in the stats at Rugbyheaven, On paper we should have won this a lot easier. We stole 7 of their line outs, gained more metres, they missed a massive 14 tackles to our 1 and suffered 34 turnovers to our 24.  Anyway, it was a good game, clearly showcasing the wealth of newbies coming through the provincial teams. Not sure about Norton-Knight as man of the match, my vote would have gone to Quade Cooper. Still haven't figured out what is going on with Adam Freier, for the second week in a row we had a hooker playing outside centre and fullback. Guess time will tell. I took my camera along so today I am not nicking photos off the SMH site.

Kick off.

 

6 minutes later Benny Robinson scores for the Waratahs.

Beale lining up a successful conversion.