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Former NRL star Timana Tahu stamped his class on rugby union, scoring with his second touch as the NSW Waratahs downed Queensland 26-10 in their opening trial match of 2008 at Campbelltown Stadium.
The silky-skilled former Newcastle and Parramatta centre played the entire second half of Saturday match at outside centre in the No.21 jersey with his right upper arm heavily strapped.
He got a feel for his career change with a couple of big tackles and created a genuine chance for the a Tahs with his first touch, an in-and-away followed by a clever pass to winger Alfi Mafi in a 20m Tahs surge upfield.
But in the 48th minute the former Kangaroo brought the curious Campbelltown crowd of 4915 alive as he set sail for the corner and dived over out wide.
The Waratahs scored four tries to two in a match played under rugby's experimental law variations between two sides missing most of their big names.
As well as Tahu, fullback Ben Batger and replacements Luke Burgess and Al Manning scored five-pointers while Batger booted two penalty goals.
For the Reds, who wore green jerseys as part of a promotion for environmentally friendly electricity, wingers Henari Veratau and Caleb Brown scored tries.
In an otherwise lacklustre affair, Tahu's touches were all class, from his deft passing game to his swerve and chip kicking.
After NSW had led 11-5 at halftime, his try took them out to a 16-5 lead, but that was cut to 16-10 when Brown capitalised on a toe-through from Walker and poor Waratahs ball security at the back to cross in the 54th minute.
But the home side's territorial dominance began to tell in the second half as first Burgess and then Manning crashed over to extend the lead to 26-10 by the 71st minute.
In a four-quarter affair which began in very warm conditions, NSW five-eighth Daniel Halangahu limped off just before the first break, pushing halfback Josh Valentine out to No.10.
It was the Reds who crossed first, in the 26th minute when Veratau was last to get up in a pile-up out wide for his side to lead 5-3.
But, after a scrappy opening, Valentine's shift seemed to bring with it some cohesion for the Tahs backs and, following some nice ball-through-the-hands movement, Batger crashed over in the 34th minute for NSW to take the lead 8-5.
The fullback added another penalty goal in the 39th for the Waratahs to go to the break up 11-5.
Tahu wasn't getting carried away with his impressive debut.
"It was a good little hit-out, I learned a lot from that game," he said.
"A few times I got stuck out in positions and I made few mistakes but that's what trials are for and I'll fix them up."
His coach, Ewen McKenzie, was impressed though.
"We'll go over the video tape and we're going to find things we can do better and he can do better and I just think it was a good game for him," he said.
"To get a try obviously will help him mentally just to say, 'I'm meant to be out here'.
"We just saw some really nice touches, a little bit of football here and there ... that's good, that's what we want him to do."
New Queensland coach Phil Mooney said his big guns would be back for his side's next trial, against the Auckland-based Blues.
"Realistically we gave the back end of our squad a pretty good hit-out tonight," he said.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/...debut-trial-try/2008/01/26/1201157738669.html
The silky-skilled former Newcastle and Parramatta centre played the entire second half of Saturday match at outside centre in the No.21 jersey with his right upper arm heavily strapped.
He got a feel for his career change with a couple of big tackles and created a genuine chance for the a Tahs with his first touch, an in-and-away followed by a clever pass to winger Alfi Mafi in a 20m Tahs surge upfield.
But in the 48th minute the former Kangaroo brought the curious Campbelltown crowd of 4915 alive as he set sail for the corner and dived over out wide.
The Waratahs scored four tries to two in a match played under rugby's experimental law variations between two sides missing most of their big names.
As well as Tahu, fullback Ben Batger and replacements Luke Burgess and Al Manning scored five-pointers while Batger booted two penalty goals.
For the Reds, who wore green jerseys as part of a promotion for environmentally friendly electricity, wingers Henari Veratau and Caleb Brown scored tries.
In an otherwise lacklustre affair, Tahu's touches were all class, from his deft passing game to his swerve and chip kicking.
After NSW had led 11-5 at halftime, his try took them out to a 16-5 lead, but that was cut to 16-10 when Brown capitalised on a toe-through from Walker and poor Waratahs ball security at the back to cross in the 54th minute.
But the home side's territorial dominance began to tell in the second half as first Burgess and then Manning crashed over to extend the lead to 26-10 by the 71st minute.
In a four-quarter affair which began in very warm conditions, NSW five-eighth Daniel Halangahu limped off just before the first break, pushing halfback Josh Valentine out to No.10.
It was the Reds who crossed first, in the 26th minute when Veratau was last to get up in a pile-up out wide for his side to lead 5-3.
But, after a scrappy opening, Valentine's shift seemed to bring with it some cohesion for the Tahs backs and, following some nice ball-through-the-hands movement, Batger crashed over in the 34th minute for NSW to take the lead 8-5.
The fullback added another penalty goal in the 39th for the Waratahs to go to the break up 11-5.
Tahu wasn't getting carried away with his impressive debut.
"It was a good little hit-out, I learned a lot from that game," he said.
"A few times I got stuck out in positions and I made few mistakes but that's what trials are for and I'll fix them up."
His coach, Ewen McKenzie, was impressed though.
"We'll go over the video tape and we're going to find things we can do better and he can do better and I just think it was a good game for him," he said.
"To get a try obviously will help him mentally just to say, 'I'm meant to be out here'.
"We just saw some really nice touches, a little bit of football here and there ... that's good, that's what we want him to do."
New Queensland coach Phil Mooney said his big guns would be back for his side's next trial, against the Auckland-based Blues.
"Realistically we gave the back end of our squad a pretty good hit-out tonight," he said.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/...debut-trial-try/2008/01/26/1201157738669.html
