Al Baxter scored his first Super rugby try in his 100th match for the New South Wales Waratahs to help his team thrash the Cheetahs 40-17 and soar to the top of the standings on Saturday.
The 33-year-old Wallaby prop took the ball in a ruck on the try line shortly after halftime and emerged from a pile of bodies with his team’s third of five tries on a rainy evening at Sydney Football Stadium.
“I don’t care how it happens, as long as you get one it’s fine,” a grinning Baxter said in a televised interview.
“I got one in the trial matches this year and was told it doesn’t count and so I had to get one in Super 14. So, I got my Test try in the 50th and now my Super 14 try in the 100th, so I’m just waiting for those bigger moments.”
Fullback Kurtley Beale ensured the Waratahs took a bonus point by intercepting a pass and sprinting over the line for his team’s fourth try a few minutes later.
Josh Holmes came off the bench to chip in for a fifth in between two late tries by the Cheetahs.
Prop WP Nel and replacement Corne Uys added respectability to the Cheetah’s scoreline but the South Africans were comprehensively outplayed from the start.
The Waratahs recorded their fifth successive win to leapfrog the Bulls, Canterbury Crusaders and Stormers into first place.
Outside centre Berrick Barnes barged through the Cheetahs defence to set up Rob Horne for the Waratahs’ first try and Daniel Halangahu added the conversion for a 13-0 lead.
The Cheetahs had to wait another 10 minutes for their first score, a penalty goal kicked by flyhalf Naas Olivier.
Prop Benn Robinson responded by putting the Waratahs up 23-3, digging the ball out of a ruck and barrelling across the line on the half-time siren. – Reuters