Super Rugby AU Round-Up - Round 2

Round 2 of saw a draw between the Rebels and Reds in extra time followed a surprisingly gutsy performance by the Waratahs to pull one over Western Force in Sydney.

Rebels v Reds

The final whistle sounded in Melbourne with the scores locked up at 18-all after 90 minutes.

The teams, level after 80 minutes, embarked on two golden-point extra time periods which yielded no further scores.

The score at half-time read 6-0 in favour of the Rebels with the home side dominating the territory stat.

The game opened up somewhat in the second stanza with the Reds scoring through Filipo Daugunu and Alex Mafi while Reece Hodge and Billy Meakes.

In the end, however, it proved impossible for one team to topple the other.

 “It’s a weird result not to get one in the end after 90 minutes of slogging each other,” said Reds skipper Liam Wright.

“But the Rebels were really good tonight, they took it to us the whole game and in the end we couldn’t be separated.”

Rebels captain Dane Haylett-Petty said:

“We obviously let that one slip. I think we had control early and we didn’t take enough of our opportunities. It was a real tussle there at the end.”

Waratahs v Western Force

The Waratahs pulled off a 24-13 victory over the Western Force for their first win of the competition.

It looked as if the game would be the Force’s before the Waratahs rallied and came from behind to score 23 points after being down 14-0 at the 30 minute mark.

"They (the Force) came with a lot of emotion and no matter what you do behind the scenes to generate that yourself, there was always a little bit about the unknown and we're still a group that are finding our way in terms of preparation and competing at this level," he said.

"We probably fell into the trap early on of young guys trying to express themselves a little bit too much too early and that's where the errors came and that compounded.

"A lot of credit goes to the boys to be able to change tactically and adjust what they needed to do to get the outcome. It's a step forward in the right direction."