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WARATAHS 15
REDS 11
Former rugby league international Timana Tahu scored a try with 15 minutes left to give the New South Wales Waratahs a 15-11 win over the Queensland Reds in last night's annual grudge match between the two Australian Super 14 teams.
It was the fifth win in a row by the Waratahs over their northern state neighbours.
It was also the fourth straight win by the Waratahs to open the season, leaving them in first place.
Waratahs prop Benn Robinson began the scoring in the fourth minute, barging over between the posts for a five-pointer.
Queensland narrowed the score to 7-3 via a Ben Lucas penalty in the 17th minute, then cut the margin to one point when Lucas kicked another two minutes later. Kurtley Beale restored the Waratahs' four-point margin with a penalty.
The Reds took an 11-10 lead on the stroke of halftime when test winger Peter Hynes scored his 16th Super 14 try as the siren sounded. Hynes took the fourth pass off a Queensland scrum win about 15 meters from the New South Wales line, but Lucas missed the conversion from a wide angle.
Hynes was involved in the Tahu try, being stripped of the ball as he took a kick, and Tahu raced 40 meters to the tryline untouched.
Waratahs captain Phil Waugh said his team were lucky to get the win.
"We got away with it," Waugh said. "We didn't play very well. We put ourselves under a lot of pressure. That (Reds) try before halftime was more our error than their execution."
Reds captain Berrick Barnes was left to rue some wasted opportunities.
"We killed ourselves by not putting points on the board in the second half," said Barnes.
He refused to blame a five-day turnaround for the loss - the Reds played last Sunday, beating South Africa's Cheetahs 22-3.
"We prepared pretty well," Barnes said. "We played the 80 minutes well but we hurt ourselves with the turnovers."
Waratahs Benn Robinson, Timana Tahu tries; Kurtley Beale pen, con.
Reds Peter Hynes try; Ben Lucas 2 pens. Halftime: 10-11.
- AP
