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By Adrian Warren
February 07, 2008 CRUSADERS and New Zealand five-eighth Daniel Carter landed the early punches but New South Wales counterpart Kurtley Beale delivered the knockout blow as the Waratahs defeated the visitors 24-14 in a Super 14 trial match at Sydney Football Stadium.
The Waratahs again showed their depth by recovering a 14-0 deficit to inflict defeat on a Crusaders team coached by new Australia coach Robbie Deans.
After scoring 38 unanswered points in the second half against the Brumbies in Gosford last week, the Waratahs poured on 24 points without reply in Sydney - 17 in the second half.
In doing so, the Waratahs claimed their third win from as many trials in the lead-up to their Super 14 opener against the Hurricanes on February 16. The Crusaders meanwhile suffered their first defeat in three trials.
Carter, playing his first game of the pre-season following a calf injury, shone early, setting up tries to centres Casey Laulala and Tim Bateman before he was one of multiple players from both sides to be substituted at half-time.
The Crusaders played the slicker rugby in the first half, putting together dangerous moves in the heavy rain while the Waratahs struggled to build momentum.
The Waratahs commenced their comeback in the 35th minute, when lively Brett Sheehan, who had replaced starting half-back Josh Valentine only eight minutes earlier, dummied his way over for a try after a strong forward drive.
Beale converted to cut the deficit to seven points at half-time before scoring the first 10 points of the second half to push the home team into the lead.
The young five-eighth kicked a penalty and then converted his own try in the 48th minute, after he had stolen the ball from veteran Crusaders winger Caleb Ralph and sprinted 40 metres.
Beale missed only one kick, a 55th-minute penalty, but he converted the Waratahs' third try before being replaced four minutes later.
Centre Timana Tahu slipped a pass to flanker Rocky Elsom, who charged down the left flank before passing inside to winger Alfi Mafi.
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has had the best of the trials this year (haven't follwed the Brumbies much although I expect them to have looked pretty bad....they usually do pre-season) and everyone else has either won because they forgot that trials are about making decisions and getting fit (Kick a DROP GOAL, WTF are you thinking?) or the other team wanted to find some minutes to get their benches as fit as their firsts!
Originally Posted by James
Jess sees Happy in all his brand shiny new Force regalia and exclaims: "It doesn't look like a woman's jacket does it?"
