The Asteron Life Super Rugby Competition is less than two weeks away from kick off and the Australian conference has been preparing with trial matches across the country.
The ARU Media Unit breaks down the latest results for you.
Melbourne Rebels 28 defeated Queensland Reds 13
In the Australian derby hosted in Cairns in Far North Queensland the Reds were unable to beat their southern rivals in the pre-season hit out.
Playing in front of 4,234 Queensland fans at Barlow Park in 26-degree heat and 94% humidity, the conditions called for a forward dominated game.
All but one of the six tries scored in the match were by forwards, as the Rebels ran in four tries to two.
The Reds scored through Beau Robinson (2), with one penalty goal to Duncan Paia’aua. The Rebels scored through Tom English, Tom Sexton and Cruze Ah Nau (2). Mike Harris kicked four conversions.
With two pre-season matches before Round 1 of Super Rugby, the Reds took the game in Cairns as an opportunity to further develop their playing group, with 11 debutants in the 28-man squad, including fullback Karmichael Hunt and flyhalf Paia’aua.
Highlanders 24 defeated ACT Brumbies 19
In Wagga Wagga, NSW the Brumbies have been defeated by New Zealand’s Highlanders 24-19.
The first half commenced strongly for the home side with Brumbies flyers Henry Speight and Tevita Kuridrani combining well for a try a piece to take the score to 19-0.
If the first half belonged to the Brumbies then the second half certainly belonged to the Highlanders.
Number 25 Ryan Tongia went over the line in the first quarter and a successful conversion by Lee Allan took the score line to 19-7.
That try was quickly followed by another Highlanders try from Teihorangi Walden and another successful conversion by Lee Allan which narrowed the gap to 19-14.
The Highlanders were left to play with a 14-man side when Ryan Tongia was red-carded in the 58th minute for a dangerous tackle.
Brumbies Nic White followed him soon after with 10 minutes in the sin bin.
With 12 minutes remaining Highlanders Dan Pryor scored right under the goalposts and a third successful conversion by Lee Allan put the Highlanders in front for the first time in the game. Score: 21-19.
A successful penalty kick from Lee Allan took the score to 24-19 with five minutes remaining in the game.
A tense few minutes after the final siren saw the ball taken from the Brumbies try line to the other end of the field and back again but at full time the score remained 24-19 to the Highlanders.
Western Force 38 defeated Asia Pacific Dragons 19
The Western Force has completed its two pre-season trials with two wins after they defeated former All Black, Tana Umaga’s side at McGillivray Oval, Perth.
The home side led at every stage, leading 26-7 at half-time through four tries to Luke Morahan, Chris Alcock, Marcel Brache and Pek Cowan.
In what was an end-to-end, physical encounter the visitors clawed their way back in the second term, before the home side closed out the match with two tries in the final 20 minutes to run out 19-point victors.
Western Force Head Coach, Michael Foley highlighted his side’s consistent improvement.
“As I’ve said over the past couple of weeks, there’s some things that will get better and better.
“We’ve got to persevere; the fact that we don’t get all the fruits of our labour initially, we shouldn’t go away from it because we need to know that we can get out there and score more tries and one of the positive things of the last two weeks is we have done that.”
NSW Waratahs 21 defeated Randwick Rugby Club 0
NSW Waratahs 22 defeated Sydney University Football Club 7
NSW Waratahs 15 defeated Parramatta Two Blues 7
The NSW Waratahs broke with the traditional trial game format to play three 30 minute matches against three of Sydney’s Club Rugby powerhouses in Randwick, Sydney University and Parramatta at Granville Park in Sydney’s west.
The Waratahs scored ten tries to two with winger Taqele Naiyaravoro being one of the standouts on the day.
The Waratahs came through the matches with no serious injuries and will have another opportunity to prepare for the upcoming Asteron Life Super Rugby season with a hit out against The Chiefs Friday Feburary 6 at Campbelltown Stadium.
The match will most likely see the return of a number of Qantas Wallabies to the field after some time off.
