The New South Wales Waratahs outmuscled the Lions 25-16 in their Super 14 match on Friday after their gamble of arriving in South Africa only 53 hours before kick-off paid off.
Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie chose to arrive late in Johannesburg rather than risk jet lag after an 11-hour flight from Sydney.
The new-look Waratahs team showed no ill-effects as they took a 15-6 lead into halftime with flyhalf Daniel Halangahu and flanker Rocky Elsom brushing off poor tackles to bustle in for tries from 15m.
Wing Peter Hewat converted the second to add to his earlier penalty, which contrasted with two penalties from Lions flyhalf Louis Strydom, who was a late replacement for injured Springbok number 10 and team captain Andre Pretorius.
The Lions, formerly known as the Cats, struck back two minutes after the restart when wing Louis Ludik sped outside Lote Tuqiri to score in the right-hand corner. Strydom converted to reduce the Waratahs’ lead to two points.
Hewat slotted a second penalty to restore some of the Waratahs advantage before McKenzie cleared his bench, introducing among others highly-rated flyhalf Kurtley Beale who turned 18 only a month ago.
Beale immediately looked at home and had a hand in the move that led to the decisive moment in the match when Lions centre Jaque Fourie was yellow-carded.
Beale moved the ball to Tuqiri who was spear-tackled by Fourie. From the resulting penalty, the Waratahs set up a lineout drive and replacement hooker Adam Freier scored the Waratahs third and conclusive try.
Hewat converted and the Waratahs had too much experience and enough energy to close out the game. – Reuters 2007