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Dramatic season finale in Brisbane

Sat, 15 May 2010 12:33

Puppet-master: Quade Cooper was on fire for the Reds - again

The Reds ended their outstanding 2010 Super 14 season on a high, when they beat a spirited Highlanders team 38-36 in an eleven-try thriller at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

The home side, undoubtedly the most improved team in Super Rugby this year, earned their eighth win of the season in the process - but they made things very hard for themselves after almost imploding in the second half.

Having racked up an impressive 24-3 half-time lead, the Reds found themselves 24-29 down in the 64th minute against this never-say-die Highlanders team, before the lead changed hands on another three occasions in a dramatic final 12 minutes.

It all looked very different in the first half, however, when Reds left-wing Digby Ioane sped over for the first try of the night inside the first minute - after great work by Peter Hynes, Quade Cooper and Will Chambers.

Hynes made the initial running off a smart inside ball from Cooper, the impressive Chambers took the ball further to the left-hand touchline and his unselfish inside ball unleashed Ioane for, possibly, his simplest score of the season.

Highlanders fullback Israel Dagg put his team on the scoreboard just over five minutes later, with a penalty goal, but former Wallaby Radike Samo crashed over four minutes - in a throwback to his golden years in a Brumbies shirt when those 'one-handed' tries were about as common as the Bulls getting smashed on their overseas tours.

At 12-3 it was looking all too comfortable for the home side and that man Cooper had some more magic in store for us when his outrageous 20-metre flick pass found Peter Hynes on the right-wing to make it 17-3.

Cooper missed the conversion to Hynes's try - as he did with Samo's - but he picked up his team's bonus point score in the 35th minute, just one minute before the game changed dramatically when the home side had lock Van Humphries sin-binned for his part in a fight, which could easily have also seen one of the Highlanders players (in particular Steven Setephano) yellow carded.

The second half got underway with an Isarel Dagg try, the Highlanders fullback doing well to beat the Reds defence out wide with a chip-'n-chase down the touchline, but it seemed more of a speed-bump to the Reds than a serious challenge - especially after Dagg missed the conversion.

That speed-bump, however, soon developed into a ten-foot wall when Highlanders prop Chris King crashed over in the 53rd minute, followed up almost immediately by a powerful close-range finish by winger Fetu'u Vainikolo - that after his opposite wing, Ben Smith, had done brilliantly to control the re-start after King's try.

Suddenly, from 8-24 down, the Highlanders had clawed their way back to 22-24 and it was well and truly game on - much to the delight of the superb crowd at the Suncorp Stadium.

The crowd, however, soon fell silent when Vainikolo danced over under the uprights - again from close-range - to put the visitors ahead for the first time.

Dagg's conversion made it 29-24 to the Kiwis, but the reality of a possible defeat seemed the sting the Reds into action and replacement forward Poutasi Luafutu crashed over from yet another pin-point Cooper pass - that after Hynes had done well to run back a stray Highlanders clearance, feeding Cooper with a forward-looking pass, before the Reds No.10 fired a pass inside to a grateful Luafutu.

Cooper slotted the conversion to put his team ahead again - restoring normal order? - but the visitors came storming back one more time as hooker Jason Rutledge showed a good appreciation of the laws to dot down the ball against the uprights and, once again, put the visitors back into the lead.

With time running out, the Reds could easily have panicked - especially when one looks at how young this team of theirs is - but with the clock winding down, they kicked a penalty to touch; winning the ball and driving hard at the Highlanders line before Luafutu flopped over for his second try - a superb cameo and one his teammates would no doubt be grateful for.

Luafutu's second try meant the scores were tied at 36-36, but Cooper held his nerve to fire over the potentially tricky conversion - making it 38-36.

Cooper's conversion looked to have sealed it for his side, as the clock reached 80 minutes, but the Highlanders won a penalty from far out, which Dagg elected to kick at goal from well over 50 metres.

Sadly for Dagg - his team's best player on the night - his kick just dropped short, allowing the Reds the opportunity to hack the ball over the deadball line and handing them one of their best Super Rugby finishes for some time.

Man of the Match: Adam Thomson does not ever seem to stop playing for the Highlanders and Israel Dagg did his All Blacks chances no harm with another fine all-round performance. For the Reds, you have to mention replacement Poutasi Luafutu for his second-half try double and Peter Hynes showed why Robbie Deans rates him so highly. You cannot, however, look further than Will Genia and Quade Cooper when it comes to Man of the Match honours and our final vote goes to that man Quade Cooper. Everything that was good about the Reds came from their star No.10 (although one cannot ignore a few of his bad moments), who kicked cleverly, handled superbly and kept his wide men in the game with some beautifully-weighted passes. How about that 20-metre reverse pass to Hynes for his first-half try?

The scorers:

For the Reds:
Tries: Ioane, Samo, Hynes, Cooper, Luafutu 2
Cons: Cooper 4

For the Highlanders:
Tries: Dagg, King, Vainikolo 2, Rutledge
Cons: Dagg 4
Pen: Dagg

Yellow card(s): Van Humphries (Reds, 36th minute - punching)

The teams:

Reds: 15 Ben Lucas, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Will Chambers, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia (captain), 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Jake Schatz, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Van Humphries (vice-captain), 4 Radike Samo, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Sean Hardman, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Jack Kennedy, 18 Ezra Taylor, 19 Poutasi Luafutu, 20 Ed Quirk, 21 Brando Va'aulu, 22 Richard Kingi.

Highlanders: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Kenny Lynn, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Matt Berquist, 9 Jimmy Cowan (captain), 8 Steven Setephano, 7 Alando Soakai, 6 Adam Thomson (vice-captain), 5 Hayden Triggs, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Bronson Murray, 2 Jason Rutledge, 1 Chris King.
Replacements: 16 Peter Mirrielees, 17 Jamie Mackintosh, 18 Joe Tuineau, 19 John Hardie, 20 Scott Cowan, 21 Robbie Robinson, 22 James Paterson.

Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Ian Smith (Australia), Simon Moore (Australia)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Australia)

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