Beale impresses in Waratahs trial

[Burgs]

Beale impresses in Waratahs trial

January 20, 2007

HIGHLY rated teenage five-eighth Kurtley Beale made an instant impact in his first appearance for New South Wales as the Waratahs beat the Brumbies 12-0 in an injury-marred trial at WIN Stadium.

Injuries to Australia forwards Matt Dunning (knee) and Al Kanaar (knee) for NSW, plus Brumbies hooker David Palavi (neck), added drama to a promising performance from Australian schoolboys star Beale.

Having only turned 18 earlier this month, Beale displayed initiative and imagination in scoring the second of the Waratahs' two tries.

Beale, whose silky skills have already seen him compared to some of Australia's previous quality five-eighths, came on at half-time for starting pivot Daniel Halangahu.

In the 47th minute, Beale received the ball near the left touchline around 20 metres out and followed up his own right foot grubber kick to touch down and score after Brumbies full back Tim Wright failed to take the ball cleanly.

The youngster played out the remainder of the half producing a one pin-point long distance kick and a cross field run near his own line.

While Beale won't get his first cap for NSW until he plays an official game, he did enough tonight to suggest he could get a run in the Super 14 at some stage this season.

His unofficial NSW debut was one of the few noteworthy occurrences of a typical trial which contained numerous mistakes.

It was also a painful start to the season for Palavi, who was stretchered off the field and taken to Wollongong hospital by ambulance with a neck injury following a 29th minute scrum.

It was an equally unproductive night for Dunning and Kanaar.

Dunning hobbled off the field inside the first ten minutes with a grade 2-3 medial ligament knee injury and will have a scan tomorrow.

Halftime replacement Kanaar had barely been on the field for a couple of minutes when he injured his left knee and will also undergo tests tomorrow.

It was especially bad luck for Palavi and Kanaar, who were coming back from knee and ankle injuries respectively suffered last season.

Prior to Beale's try, which the youngster couldn't convert, there was just one score in the opening half.

Young winger Lachlan Turner took advantage of a pass from centre Ben Jacobs to touch down in the final minute of the half, Halangahu converting to give the Waratahs a 7-0 lead.

The Brumbies dominated the first quarter, but couldn't convert a number of good opportunities.

The Waratahs assumed control in the second quarter, but centre Sam Harris, who has returned to rugby after a stint in league, squandered a couple of potential tries with dropped passes.

AAP

[Burgs]

Palavi is going to look good turning up to Court in a neck brace....
Good signs for the future with the young fellas scoring two of the tries.

[Burgs]

All white on the night as Beale scores in first game

Rupert Guinness, c/o Rugby Heaven
Sunday, January 21, 2007

WEARING white headgear, white boots and showing a bright white smile, five-eighth Kurtley Beale showed every sign that he could become the white knight for Australian and NSW rugby.

Beale, 18, scored a try in his first appearance in senior rugby in the Waratahs' Super 14 trial against the Brumbies last night.

His first touch of the ball came in his first minute of game time after coming on for the second half of NSW's 12-0 win at WIN Stadium.

The touch came when he forced a turnover by tackling Brumbies outside-centre Matt Carraro on the visitors' 22-metre line.

Beale's first gallop with the ball came one minute later from a pass by Brett Sheehan and lasted 10 strides before he was tackled into touch by the Brumbies' No. 10 Christian Lealiifano.

The try came after Beale took the loose ball 10 metres out, grubber kicked it through the Brumbies defence and scooped it up before charging over the line to beat ACT fullback Tim Wright.

His attempt at conversion failed, but with NSW up 12-0, Beale had arrived.

But it wasn't all good news for the Waratahs last night, with three injury concerns.

Second-rower Al Kanaar, one of the half-time replacements and in his first match back from an ankle injury suffered in last year's Tooheys New Cup, lasted barely a minute.

His season could be over after he was helped from the field by NSW staff and will require a left knee reconstruction.

Prop Matt Dunning limped off 10 minutes into the first half and is expected to be out for eight weeks with a medial ligament injury.

And back-rower Dave Dennis also has medial ligament trouble and is likely to miss eight weeks.

In the first half, the Brumbies constantly pressured the NSW line for the first 17 minutes, but NSW managed to hold firm, with five-eighth Daniel Halangahu finally getting them into Brumbies territory for the first time with a confident 30-metre kick into touch.

Then both sides penetrated each other's halves like tennis players playing volley, but after 15 minutes the match started to swing in NSW's favour.

The Waratahs, in their zeal to reap some points, would have been frustrated at missing two near-certain tries, both off dropped ball by inside-centre Sam Harris - one 10 metres out with clear space ahead and the other just as he went over the Brumbies line.

The first serious injury was suffered by Brumbies hooker David Palavi after 29 minutes.

In his first game back after undergoing a knee reconstruction after round two against the Bulls last year, Palavi hurt his neck when a scrum collapsed five metres outside the Brumbies line. He was taken off on a stretcher after being attended to by medical staff for eight minutes and was taken to Wollongong hospital in an ambulance.

The first points came to NSW in injury time of the first half when winger Lachlan Turner scored in the left corner.

The Australian under-19s representative, who made his debut for NSW against the Reds in the Australian Provincial Championship last year, scored from a deft pass by outside-centre Ben Jacobs. It was converted by Halangahu, giving NSW a 7-0 lead at the break.

[Sagerian]

I thought Beale was pretty ordinary, not going to pass judgment yet.

[frontrow]

Pretty bad luck with the injuries, i feel sorry for those blokes...Hope palavi`s neck injury isn`t serious, but really unfortunate for kanaar and dunning to go out in a trial game, can`t buy a break poor buggers...