Rugby: Tahs score record win

Winger Drew Mitchell (right) scored the first of the four Waratahs tries. Photo / Getty Images

Waratahs 30 Reds 6

If there's a sly bet to be had on the winner of Super Rugby this year, the Waratahs could be it.

They went to the top of the ladder last night after dismissing the Reds with surprising ease, winning this hard-fought local derby by a record margin.

Early days, maybe, but they play a direct, bruising, mobile style low on complicated manouevres but high on pace, efficiency and support.

They will be tested by sides who can take them on in their much-improved set pieces but they have a swarming, jolting defence with several players capable of making offensive-defensive hits.

They are also not short of horsepower which can fashion something out of not very much.

Fullback Kurtley Beale is the obvious spark but winger Drew Mitchell, halfback Luke Burgess' bursts from the base and afro-haired, wrecking-ball hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau can also be counted in that regard.

Berrick Barnes knots it all together from first five-eighths; an elegant and underrated reader of a game with a polished guidance system.

Barnes and Burgess outshone the much more vaunted Wallaby combination of Will Genia and Quade Cooper for most of the first half.

The Reds have a big pack but they were taken aback at the beginning of this match by the cohesion and drive of the Waratahs forwards, particularly in the breakdowns and collision areas. Dean Mumm, Ben Mowen and Dave Dennis are big, fast, up-the-guts merchants who stretch the close-in defence with hard running.

Faced with all that, it took the Reds 25 minutes to get into the match and start mounting their own raids. Then they were frustrated by that tough Waratahs defence that several times saw the elusive and innovative Cooper impotently able to do nothing but harmlessly chip ahead to touch.

Burgess, Mowen and Beale combined to set up the first try, to Mitchell, and the second came when Reds skipper James Horwill had just limped off with an injury.

At the lineout, Polota-Nau shaped to throw deep but lobbed it short - and Dennis galloped through a bemused Reds defence like Kiwi storming home at the Melbourne Cup.

It was a sucker punch, catching the Reds off guard, but it was also a perfect example of how these Waratahs are operating - quick-thinking, fast and direct. They may not rip many sides to shreds but they will be hard to beat.

Cooper kicked two penalties to keep the Reds in touch at halftime, down only 16-6. It could have been much worse if Barnes hadn't missed three shots at goal.

The Reds had to score first after the break and Barnes helped by missing an easy penalty first up. With Waratahs skipper Phil Waugh also off injured, the Reds had ample motivation to mount a surge - but the Waratahs contained them comfortably and solved the goalkicking problem with an easy try to winger Lachie Turner after consistent pressure marshalled by the excellent Burgess.

Genia tried to light their fire with Barnes off injured and Polota-Nau tackling himself to a standstill - but when they finally slipped the fierce defence, the Reds' hands let them down. Mitchell punished them with a chargedown that led to replacement prop Benn Robinson scoring the bonus point try - and the Waratahs had their seventh straight victory over the Reds.

Waratahs 30 (D. Mitchell, D. Dennis, L.Turner, B. Robinson tries; B. Barnes 2 pen, K. Beale 2 cons), Reds 6 (Q. Cooper 2 pens). Halftime: 16-6.