HSBC Waratahs Remain Undefeated on Argentine Tour 76-14 Over Tucuman
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Thursday, 21 October 2004
NSWRU Media Unit
Wycliff Palu steamrolls Tucuman defender
Wycliff Palu steamrolls Tucuman defender
It was a professional, well executed win with maturity far beyond the suggested experience of this young Waratah side.
But the Adam Freier led side was up to the challenge from the opening minute and very rarely took the foot off the gas before racking up a 76-14 victory for their second win of their four match tour.
A final tally of 12 tries to 2 told the tale before a salivating crowd of nearly ten thousand at a ground the locals call, "The Fortress."
Just four minutes in Morgan Turinui engineered the first try of the match from his own half for Cameron Shepherd to score in the left corner.
The early blow stunned the normally colourful crowd and they were muted further just minutes later when Turinui crossed for his first try.
After 15 minutes the Waratahs were up by three tries as Tim Donnelly kicked through for Shepherd to score his second.
The furious pace negated the power based scrummaging game of the Argentine icons.
Sydney University lock Will Caldwell suffered a badly dislocated thumb midway through the second half and was replaced by club mate Alex Kanaar who, earlier in the day, went through a double training session preparing for Friday's game against Cordoba.
Newly recruited Wycliff Palu was a standout at blindside flanker with barnstorming runs and bone crunching defence.
"He confirmed our thoughts that he's definitely got the ability to carry the ball forward and have an impact on the game," said Waratah forwards coach Steve Tuynman.
"That was Cliffy's first run-on match for the Waratahs on tour and he can only get better from here."
The Waratahs went to the break with a massive 45-0 advantage prompting a halftime mid-pitch group embrace by the Tucuman side in an attempt to inspire a second half revival.
But it wasn't to be with Waratah loosehead prop Gareth Hardy scoring his first try for New South Wales soon after the resumption.
Randwick speedster Wise Kativerata joined in the try scoring frenzy as the Waratahs raced to a 62-0 lead following Turinui's second try.
26 minutes into the second half the home side finally troubled the scorers. They scored two quick tries to reduce the margin to 62-14 but the Waratahs had two more tries left in the tank for a final tally of 12 and a brutal score line of 76-14.
The win goes someway in avenging the Waratahs 1991 draw when Ewen McKenzie was packing down for NSW and Australia.
Another former Wallaby, forwards mentor of the Waratahs, Steve Tuynman, lavished praise on his pack.
"As a forward pack we showed we can actually dominate all areas of the game,"
"It was pleasing to see things we worked on at training came to fruition in the match."
"The simple fact is, they aimed up,"
"By reputation alone Tucuman have the hardest pack in this country so to dominate them and set up a 76 -14 win is no mean feat," concluded Tuynman.
The will be little chance to savour the victory as the Waratah squad will head to Cordoba in the morning for a match on Saturday morning Sydney time.
The team for that match will be released tomorrow.
HSBC WARATAHS - 76
TRIES: Cameron Shepherd (3), Morgan Turinui (2), Winston Mafi (2), Wise Kativerata, Shaun Berne, Gareth Hardy, Alex Kanaar, Arthur Little.
CONS: Tim Donnelly (8)
TUCUMAN - 14
TRIES: Anibal Teran, Santiago Garcia
CONS: Diego Mas (2)
HALFTIME: 45-0 Waratahs
CROWD: 10 000 approx