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SYDNEY - All Blacks star Daniel Carter landed the early punches but rival five-eighth Kurtley Beale delivered the knockout blow as the NSW Waratahs beat the Crusaders 24-14 in a rugby trial at the Sydney Football Stadium last night.
The Waratahs again showed their depth by coming from
14-0 down to inflict defeat on a Crusaders team coached by new Wallabies mentor Robbie Deans.
After scoring 38 unanswered second half points against the Brumbies last week, the Waratahs piled on 24 straight points, 17 of them in the second half.
The result gave the Waratahs their third win from as many trials in the lead-up to their Super tournament opener against the Hurricanes on February 16.
The Crusaders suffered their first defeat in three trials.
Carter, who is playing his first game of the pre-season following a calf injury, shone early on.
The Crusaders playmaker set up tries to centres Casey Laulala and Tim Bateman before he was one of multiple players from both sides to be substituted at halftime.
The Crusaders played the slicker football in the first half, putting together some dangerous moves in the heavy rain, while NSW struggled to build momentum.
The Waratahs comeback started in the 35th minute when lively Brett Sheehan, who replaced starting halfback Josh Valentine eight minutes earlier, dummied his way over for a try after a strong forward drive.
Beale converted to cut the deficit to seven at halftime, and then scored the first ten points of the second half to push the home team to the lead.
The young five-eighth kicked a penalty and then converted his own try in the 48th minute, after he stole the ball from Crusaders veteran Caleb Ralph and sprinted 40 metres.
Beale missed his only kick of the night from a 55th minute penalty, but converted the Waratahs third try before being replaced four minutes later.
Centre Timana Tahu had slipped a pass to flanker Rocky Elsom who charged down the left hand side before passing inside to winger Alfi Mafi.
Waratah's coach Ewen McKenzie said NSW could have been more clinical in the first quarter.
"We certainly weren't happy with our first part of the game, we weren't clinical and we weren't as aggressive and we didn't defend as well as we'd like," McKenzie said.
"But the good thing is we turned it around and stuck to our guns."
He said he decided to introduce man-of-the-match Sheehan early in the game because he wasn't getting the result he wanted from Valentine.
"We thought we'd be proactive and we just thought the way Brett plays the game would suit the conditions better and certainly him coming on the field made a big difference," McKenzie said.
He reported no major injuries, while Deans said utility back Leon MacDonald was his major fitness worry going into next week.
Deans said the result of the game wasn't significant and some of the Crusaders' decision making would tighten up once the Super tournament commenced.
"In the second 40, there were a few blokes out there who haven't even played NPC, let alone at this level, so it was a big step for them, but they did well," Deans said.
"They didn't drop off the game. We are pretty happy with what we got out of it.
"It wasn't perfect. We probably put ourselves under pressure. It would have been pretty easy to actually turn the tables."
Deans said he would be very surprised if players in the Australian team lifted their game against the Crusaders, just to impress him in his capacity as Wallabies coach and said they would be more focused on working as a team than individuals.
- AAP