Waratahs 15
If this was effectively the Wallaby trial everyone said it was, national coach Robbie Deans will not have learned a lot.
He'll have seen prop Benn Robinson lording it over Guy Shepherdson in the scrums - but he likely already knew that. He saw Reds skipper James Horwill have another
compelling game at lock. He would have watched Quade Cooper have one of his oh-boy-oh-dear games where brilliance was often followed by bumble.
He also knew Drew Mitchell is the best wing in Australia so it will have been no fun to watch him being stretchered off with what looked a serious injury after falling awkwardly when chasing a kick.
The Reds brought most of the attacking effort and invention - but the Waratahs were better organised, with their smothering defence and determined work at the breakdown; frustrating the Reds. Both tactical approaches will have been of great interest to Deans.
The Waratahs were content to play territory and kick the penalties in the first half. They looked clinical, efficient and likely to win by draining the Reds of energy and creativity and by provoking errors.
But then came one of those Cooper moments which may persuade Deans that the livewire No 10 will be his World Cup playmaker. As the Reds scrum went backwards faster than Labour's election prospects, Cooper should have been under pressure. But he showed the ball to the defenders, skipped, wriggled and sprinted outside centre Ryan Cross and stitched up fullback Kurtley Beale with a subtle sidestep at pace.
It was the sort of incision which wins matches and it gave the Reds a shot of adrenalin. They returned to Waratahs territory; Cooper directing traffic like a white-gloved policeman at a four-way intersection before snapping over a drop goal for a 16-9 lead at halftime.
Deans will have been interested to see Reds winger Digby Ioane running with thrust and verve; shaping as a ready replacement for Mitchell. He will also have noted No 8 Scott Higginbotham had a strong game in the loose; chipping away at Wycliff Palu's test spot while he is not near real form.
Still, the Waratahs' scrum and lineout kept them in the game - good for the Wallaby chances of Robinson and fellow prop Sekope Kepu - and stimulated repeated penalty chances. A raid by halfback Luke Burgess saw them camped on the Reds' line, with scrum after scrum being set.
It looked for all money like a penalty try was on the way but a fine defensive shove spoiled the ball for the Waratahs. But, still, the Reds couldn't clear their lines. Their kicks went directly to hand; they lost possession at key moments; too ambitious trying to run it out.
For 25 minutes, the Reds withstood the siege as the Waratahs began to fret about so much time spent on attack with no points. If it wasn't attack by scrum, it was pick and go, maul and bash. The pressure had to tell; the percentages surely had to apply. It was Horatio at the bridge stuff - surely so few could not defend for so long against so much.
Finally, frustratingly, the Waratahs took the kick and the game teetered at 16-15. The Reds came back until an atrocious Cooper kick on the full squandered the initiative. But a 78th minute penalty offered redemption. He took it.
Deans will have gone away as convinced as he was before he got there - that percentages and possession are one thing. But you still have to score the points.
Reds 19 (Q. Cooper try, con, 3 pens, drop goal), Waratahs 15 (K. Beale 5 pens). Halftime: 16-9.
