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Match Highlights: Record breaker Higginbotham inspires Reds to comeback win over Blues

By Online Editors

A milestone double by try-scoring forward Scott Higginbotham has delivered the Queensland Reds a thrilling 29-28 Super Rugby win over the Blues.

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France-bound Higginbotham scored in either half in his final match for the Reds at Suncorp Stadium on Friday to ensure a victorious send-off for captain Samu Kerevi, who is being widely tipped for a move to Japanese club Suntory after this year’s World Cup.

Higginbotham’s first-half try came on the back of some Kerevi brilliance and made him the first forward to score 40 Super Rugby tries.

The 32-year-old then scored in the 77th minute with Bryce Hegarty nailing the conversion to snap a 15-match losing streak for the Reds against New Zealand opposition.

The victory appeared highly unlikely after the Blues charged to a 21-5 lead after 23 minutes.

Blues captain Blake Gibson opened the scoring after just three minutes and then Tanielu Tele’a and Augustine Pulu crossed for tries either side of Higginbotham’s firs t try of the night.

The Reds recovered from their dire opening 20 minutes to turn the tide of the match and closed within nine points when Taniela Tupou, who’d been denied a try earlier in the half, crashed over following a mountain of pressure inside the Blues’ 22.

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Hegarty’s penalty on the stroke of halftime made it 21-15 to the Blues at the break.

The Reds fullback then crossed for his fifth try of the season at home to put the hosts ahead for the first time in the game.

Pulu’s second on the back of a Tupou penalty put the New Zealanders clear again by six and the Blues halfback thought he had a hat-trick only for a video review to reveal he’d failed to properly release the ball after being tackled by Reds’ winger Filipo Daugunu before jumping up to dive over the tryline.

The Blues’ then went down to 14 men when Dalton Papali’i was shown a yellow card in the 66th minute when referee Brendon Pickerill lost patience with the number of infringements by the visitors.

While the Reds failed to take advantage of their opponents being a man down, they kept coming and claimed their sixth win of a difficult campaign.

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The out of contention Reds finish their season against the Australian conference-leading Brumbies next Saturday in Canberra.

AAP

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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