Waratahs claim inaugural Santos Cup victory at Dangar Park

NSW Waratahs are the inaugural Santos Cup winners following a 45-33 victory against Queensland Reds at Dangar Park on Friday night

The two Super Rugby sides went head-to-head in the pre-season match, which was the headline act of the 2021 Santos Festival of Rugby.

The Waratahs outscored the Reds seven tries to five in what was an entertaining clash at the home of the Narrabri Rugby Club in front of about 3000 fans.

The match was played across 20-minute quarters. At quarter-time, the Reds led 7-5, then the Waratahs went into half-time ahead 19-14. The Waratahs stretched that lead to 31-19 at three-quarter-time, then both sides scored 14 points each in the final quarter as the NSW side won 45-33.

NSW Waratahs head coach Rob Penney told Waratahs media after the match that it was a positive start to the year, with the two sides to meet again on February 19 at the iconic Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane in round one of the 2021 Super Rugby season.

“It was a very positive start (to the year) and I’m wrapped with the commitment level and the intensity the boys brought to the event,” Penney said.

“Obviously being so early in the season there were going to be errors and a little bit of a roller coaster ride in terms of performance.

“But I think there were far more ups than downs and the downs were in our grasp to recover from and fix quite rapidly. So all in all, a really positive hit out.”

The Dangar Park crowd was treated to an exciting start, with both sides crossing for a try each inside the first six minutes of the match.

The Reds opened the scoring after just three minutes when Moses Sorovi crossed off the back of a brilliant Jock Campbell line break, before Michael Woods responded for the Waratahs. That made the score 7-5 to the Queensland men, which is the way the score remained at the completion of the first 20-minute quarter.

Just two minutes after play restarted, the Waratahs hit the lead through a penalty try which saw the Reds reduced to 14 men as Ben Grant was yellow-carded.

However, the Queenslanders shrugged that off and just 90 seconds after conceding, retook the lead through a Seru Uru try and Bryce Hegarty’s second conversion which made the score 14-12.

With just six minutes remaining in the half, and just after Grant returned to the field to even up the numbers, NSW Waratahs 2021 skipper Jake Gordon scored a memorable try.

The Waratahs had mounted a push on the Reds’ line, determined to retake the lead. The forward men were unable to push their way over so Gordon grabbed the ball out of the back of the ruck and dived over the top of it to claim his side’s third try of the night.

Tane Edmed converted to send the Waratahs into the main break leading 19-14.

Reds’ Filipo Daugunu crossed for the first try of the second stanza to level the score at 19-all, before Gordon bagged his second to give the Waratahs a 24-19 lead in the 47th minute.

In the 55th minute, Will Harrison set up a try on the back of a well-worked set piece scrum play. Harrison found a flying Alex Newsome on the right edge then converted that try to make the score 31-19, which is the way it stayed with 20 minutes to play.

The Reds mounted a brave fightback and were able to take a 33-31 lead with 14 minutes to play following converted tries scored by Uru and Daugunu.

However, two tries in the final 10 minutes scored by Waratahs centre Joey Walton, which were both converted by Harrison, saw the Waratahs win the 2021 Santos Cup match.

Waratahs skipper Jake Gordon was presented the Santos Cup and the team’s $25,000 winner’s cheque by Narrabri Rugby Club president Mick Coffey and Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher after the match.