Kurtley Beale kicked the New South Wales Waratahs to a hard-fought 11-7 victory over the Waikato Chiefs on Friday to maintain the their long winning run at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Beale laid on a first-half try for winger Timana Tahu with a superb chip-kick, then booted a penalty and a drop goal in the second term to steer the Waratahs to victory after they trailed 7-5 at the break.
The result extended the Waratahs’ unbeaten run at home to eight matches, stretching back over nearly two years, and provided the Australians with their second straight win this season after they beat the Hurricanes in Wellington last weekend.
”Winning ugly beats losing ugly,” Waratahs coach Chris Hickey told a news conference.
”Winning tight games like that is important and it’s where your character is under examination.”
It was the second narrow loss for the Chiefs this season after they went down to the defending champions Canterbury Crusaders last weekend.
The New Zealanders took the lead in the first half when prop Sona Taumalolo barged his way over in the 27th minute after All Blacks wing Sitiveni Sivivatu had blown his chance to score by fumbling a Stephen Donald grubber over the tryline.
The match failed to reach any great heights with both teams coughing up possession and making fundamental errors whenever they were in position to score.
The Chiefs were missing several key players, including their skipper Mils Muliaina, and spent most of the match defending.
The Waratahs opened the scoring after just 16 minutes when Beale kicked over and across the Waikato defensive line for Tahu to gather on the full and dive over.
The Chiefs led for almost half an hour after Taumalolo’s touchdown, before Beale made amends for three failed attempts at goal in the first half with a penalty then a wobbly drop goal.
”Kurtley’s developing some good vision in that regard and Timana did well,” Hickey said. ”You’re pleased when those things come off for you.” — Reuters