Ewen McKenzie got his stint as Reds coach off to a winning start, by getting one over on his former franchise, the Waratahs – the Queensland outfit edging their New South Wales rivals 26-24 in a Super 14 pre-season trial Oakes Oval, Lismore, on Saturday.

Courtecy of Rugby365.com

The Reds came from eight points down, with seven minutes remaining, to score a confidence-boosting win over the Waratahs in their opening trial.

Little had separated the sides until the Waratahs seemed to open up the match winning lead with two quick tries, but a try by lively scrumhalf Richard Kingi coupled with a tight sideline conversion by flyhalf Tim Walsh – who kicked impeccably on the night – got them to within a point with four minutes remaining.

Walsh sealed the win with a midfield penalty from 45 metres out with two minutes to go.

With the Reds in possession as the full-time hooter sounded, Kingi joyfully booted the ball into touch to spark a celebration from his Reds teammates, who had lost their past two trial matches against the Waratahs and who are due to meet them again in Round One  of the Super 14 on February 13 at Suncorp Stadium.

The Reds looked sharp in the match with handling errors kept to a minimum and some excellent defence, let down in the first half only when the Waratahs scored with Reds hooker Saia Faingaa in the sin-bin following an altercation.

The ‘Tahs signalled their intentions early on by declining a number of opportunities to kick penalty goals.

However, Reds prop Jack Kennedy had opened the scoring for the visitors with a try after some driving play close to the line, with the conversion by Ben Lucas taking them out to 7-0 at the first quarter drinks break.

A scuffle in the 28th minute saw Saia Faingaa shown a yellow card, and the Tahs again declined to go for points from the ensuing penalty. The decision paid off with Josh Holmes going over after some solid phase ball.

The two sides were locked at 7-7 at half-time.

Walsh came on in the second half and put his team into the lead with the first of his four penalty goals.

In the 57th minute the Tahs finally went for a penalty, which Brendan McKibbin converted to tie the game at 10-all. The deadlock didn’t last long however with Tim Walsh kicking a three-pointer for the Reds.

Successive tries by the Waratahs had the Lismore crowd of 3628 confident of a victory.

An hour into the match the Waratahs took the lead after Paddy Ryan went through a gap and linked with McKibbin, who crossed under the posts against his former side.

Ten minutes into the final quarter, Walsh brought the margin back to one-point with a penalty, however in the 72nd minute Dylan Sigg crashed over after the Waratahs’ forwards successfully drove the ball to the line from a line-out. McKibbin converted to open an eight-point advantage with seven minutes to play.

The Reds never gave up however, and Richard Kingi scored out wide with four minutes left on the clock. Walsh’s conversion brought the margin back to one as the game wound down.

The Reds then received a penalty with 90 seconds left on the clock, which Walsh put over to give the visitors a two-point win.

While not getting carried away with the victory, the Reds’ new head coach, McKenzie, said the fact that the players had toughed it out to secure a win was helpful for the team’s confidence after so many years of disappointment.

“We’re trying to develop some habits around winning so it’s a good result for us from a confidence point of view. I know people say it’s a trial and whatever but you’ve got to start somewhere,” McKenzie said.

“I was pleased with the defence, I was pleased with the flow of the game in terms of the ball use and the quality of the handling which I thought was pretty good. We didn’t make many mistakes.”

Asked about Kingi’s performance in the absence of Wallaby scrumhalf Will Genia, who was rested for the match, McKenzie said: “He’s a good player, he took the ball forward and made some great tackles. You know you have to have more than just one good player [in a position] and we’ve clearly got that in that position.

“But I don’t like to single out individuals, there was a good contribution from everyone.”

The scorers:

For the Waratahs:
Tries: Holmes, McKibbin, Sigg
Cons: McKibbin 2, Halangahu
Pen: McKibbin

For the Reds:
Tries: Kennedy, Kingi
Cons: Lucas, Walsh
Pens: Walsh 4

Yellow card: Saia Faingaa (Reds)

Waratahs: 15 Sosene Anesi, 14 Nemani Nadolo, 13 Rory Sidey, 12 Tom Carter, 11 Peter Betham, 10 Daniel Halangahu (captain), 9 Josh Holmes, 8 Locky McCaffrey, 7 Chris Alcock, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Hendrik Roodt, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Dan Palmer, 2 Damien Fitzpatrick, 1 Jeremy Tilse.
Replacements – form: Luke Holmes, Ofa Fainga’anuku, Chris Thomson, Will Caldwell, Brendan McKibbin, Ben Seymour, Adam D’Arcy, Paddy Ryan, Dylan Sigg, Hugh Perrett, Tom Azar, Alex Rokobaro, Jacob Woodhouse.

Reds: 15 Luke Morahan, 14 Brando Va’aulu, 13 Morgan Turinui, 12 Anthony Faingaa, 11 Dominic Shipperley, 10 Ben Lucas (vice-captain), 9 Richard Kingi, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Lei Tomiki, 6 Jake Schatz, 5 Van Humphries, 4 Adam Byrnes, 3 Jack Kennedy, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Ben Daley (captain).
Replacements – from: Michael Bond, Blair Connor, Rod Davies, James Hanson, Jono Lance, Dallan Murphy, Andrew Shaw, Rob Simmons, James Slipper, Ben Tapuai, Ezra Taylor, Heath Tessman, Aidan Toua, Tim Walsh, Laurie Weeks.

Referee: Ian Smith
Assistant referees: Stephen Hill, Graham Cook