The Queensland Reds were left to rue costly mistakes after falling 49-19 against the NSW Waratahs in their trial at Ballymore Stadium today.
The Reds gave up three long-range tries to two intercepts and a spilt pass to learn a timely lesson on the value of execution.
An upbeat crowd of 3218 turned out on a sunny afternoon to lap up the Reds' final hitout before they meet their old foes again on February 13 in Sydney in the opening round of Swyftx Super Rugby Pacific.
The value of the trial was getting match minutes into 30 players with the Reds running an extended 15-man bench.
Reds Head Coach Les Kiss was to the point post-match.
"There's plenty (to work on). In reality, they probably played us off the park in quite a few areas," Kiss said.
"Our maul was strong when it needed to be but our execution was poor at times.
"We tried to play a bit too cute at times but I'll take my hat off to the Waratahs, they were sharp and their energy came out earlier than ours."
Kiss identified excellent moments but stitching together a strong 80 minutes will be the training focus of the coming weeks.
"A lot of individual moments, small things but it wasn't collective efforts. Could we put them under heat enough to hurt them? No," Kiss added.
"The boys are thoroughly disappointed. We're not about the result but some of the things out there won't cut it in Super Rugby.
"We let them off the hook often. Defensively, we have to be a bit more resilient, particularly inside our own 22."
The Reds were given a timely reminder in the second minute that rushed execution under pressure, even in a trial, will bite you. A pass was intercepted and Waratahs winger Harry Potter ran it in from 65m for a 7-0 jump.
The Reds were down 14-0 before they showed what they are capable of by applying pressure of their own.
Lock Josh Canham deflected a ruckbase kick into touch and No.8 Joe Brial stole the Waratahs' lineout throw to follow.
It created a perfect platform which was finished by fullback Jock Campbell crossing out wide for the strike-back score at 14-7.
At 28-7 down, the Reds called on their lineout again. From a 5m lineout, Canham secured the ball and the rolling maul went to work to propel hooker Richie Asiata over.
Those two tries left the Reds down 35-12 at half-time. Several good attacking chances were created but not turned into points. The Waratahs took their chances far better.
The Reds were more urgent in the second half. A rally looked possible but errors and conceding two tries through loose passes hurt.
Teenage winger Treyvon Pritchard showed his class in two periods on the field worth more than an hour. He beat three players with neat footwork late in the game. Earlier, footwork beat opponent Sid Harvey just metres from his own tryline which enabled Pritchard to bang a clearing kick 60m downfield. He repeated the dose with an even better 60m kick that found touch.
Canham's workrate at lock extended to chasing Waratahs backs on the sideline in defence. He had a strong 60 minutes.
Lock partner Lukhan Salakaia-Loto jolted a turnover by making a big tackle so he was still trying to influence play moments before his shift was also up at the hour mark.
Replacement hooker Matt Faessler crossed on full-time from a quick tap.
NSW WARATAHS 49
Tries: Leafi Talataina 2, Harry Potter, George Poolman, Teddy Wilson, Clem Halaholo, Sid
Harvey
Conversions: Sid Harvey 7
Def
QUEENSLAND REDS 19
Tries: Jock Campbell, Josh Canham, Matt Faessler
Conversions: Carter Gordon, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips
Half-time: Waratahs 35-Reds 12
Venue: Ballymore Stadium
Crowd: 3218
