Last season’s wooden spooners, the Queensland Reds, weathered a second-half fightback to cling on to a 22-16 Super 14 victory over New Zealand’s Otago Highlanders on Friday.
The Reds, who only won two games last year, opened their season under new coach Phil Mooney with a determined win after playing their best rugby in the first half to lead 12-3 at half-time.
But the inexperienced Highlanders, fielding seven Super 14 debutants in their 22-man squad, clawed back and trailed 19-16 inside the final five minutes.
It was an 80th-minute penalty goal from rugby league convert Clinton Schifcofske that sealed the confidence-boosting victory for the battling Australian team.
Queensland were good value for their half-time lead, with tries to skipper John Roe and Schifcofske, but the Highlanders dominated large periods of the second half as the Reds played conservatively to hold on to their lead.
Otago also lost prop Jamie Mackintosh to a yellow card for using a swinging arm in a tackle midway through the second half, leaving his team a man down for 10 minutes.
The Reds were the beneficiaries of two dubious tries awarded by South African referee Marius Jonker, after adjudication from the television match official, even though television replays could not prove whether the ball was grounded over the try-line.
Roe scored his second try midway through the second half beneath a pile of bodies but there was no visible evidence that he had reached the try-line.
Schifcofske, winger Digby Ioane and young Wallaby flyhalf Berrick Barnes were among the Reds’ best players, while Queensland’s defence was well-marshalled amid Otago pressure in the second half.
The Highlanders gave their supporters hope of a win against the odds when replacement forward Adam Thomson capitalised on a wayward line-out throw from hooker Sean Hardman and ploughed over for Otago’s sole try.
But that was as close as the Highlanders got as the Reds played for territory and were rewarded with Schifcofske’s penalty goal on the final siren. — AFP
