It was a first half with a little bit of everything. Within the first two minutes we had two bouts of over-aggression, the second of which referee Matt Goddard handled very sensibly, and thereafter the aggression was of a measured brutality. There were countless blood reversals during the game, including both number sevens after a dust-up between the two later in the second half, but rarely any serious cases of foul play.

There were some huge hits which went bloodshed-less as well. Phil Waugh sent David Croft into next week with one midfield tackle, and Hugh McMeniman did the same to Matt Dunning when the Waratahs might have had a try.

There were some exquisite moments of three-quarter play in the first half too. Most involved Lote Tuqiri and Morgan Turinui, and twice Tuqiri was denied tries by the cover after Turinui had set him away.

The first was on 24 minutes, and was the first really threatening break of the game. Tuqiri chipped sublimely, and Turinui claimed the ball on the wing. Once he had been caught, he chipped into the middle with a good old-fashioned crossfield kick for Tuqiri to collect, but John Roe put in a perfect cover tackle and David Croft was first to arrive and force the turnover.

Four minutes later, Tuqiri and Turinui combined at close quarters to set Sam Norton-Knight away, but the full-back showed his inexperience by kicking the ball on too early.

Then, shortly before half-time, Turinui got the ball on the short side, and timed his pass to Tuqiri to perfection. Tuqiri did all he could, but was denied by a diving try-saving tackle from McMeniman once again.

All of which makes it sound as though the Waratahs were the dominant team, but that was not strictly true. They threatened more, but Queensland enjoyed more early possession, and in the early plays they were the more threatening team, with Berrick Barnes marshalling the game well on his debut.

Too often he and his backs were let down by infringements from their forwards though and the Reds' line-out was catastrophic, even after the early substitution of hooker Sean Hardman.

It handed impetus back to the Waratahs at key moments, often in good attacking positions in the Waratahs 22. The Reds lost 5 from 12 on their own throw, which is just not good enough, and by the end of the half, they were withstanding a Waratahs onslaught.

The Reds' desperation to get the turned over balls back also led to a stream of penalties - 8-5 was the count against them in the first half - and Peter Hewat missed one as well as landing two for the Waratahs.

Elton Flatley landed two of his own to make the half-time score 6-6.

The second half was a neat reversal of the second. The Reds tightened things up in the forwards, and began to force the penalties, two of which Flatley landed to make it 12-6. The line-out was better, the cohesion was better, and the Waratahs were struggling to find answers beyond simply not letting the Reds runners pass.

Sam Cordingley twice broke around the fringes, once making some 40m before being hauled down, and with the Reds backs enjoying much more quality possession, it seemed just a matter of time.

Quite why Cordingley was taken off on 62 minutes is a mystery, but it changed the game irreversibly. Nic Berry was nowhere near being the threat Cordingley had been, and his service left Barnes, and later Lloyd Johansson, pushing hurried passes into the midfield where the ball repeatedly went to ground.

Cordingley could have been a victim of the cramp which collectively gripped the Queenslad team, and the nutritionists may be re-calculating their sodium sums this week, as the Reds faded badly towards the end.

The Waratahs seized some momentum back, and Tuqiri was only denied a try by a magnificent Chris Latham tackle after the Waratahs had strung together their first meaningful backs move of the half around the hour mark.

The winning moment came five minutes later. Turinui's kick bounced awkwardly for Latham, and the Reds captain was forced into a hurried clearance, which went straight to Tuqiri.

Tuqiri ran it back, set up the ball, Shaun Berne sprayed a long pass, and Rocky Elsom split the line like a full-back, sprinting in to score from 35 metres out. Hewat converted to give the Waratahs the lead again.

The Reds made game efforts, but the changes had destroyed all the momentum they had worked so hard to get back, and the final ten minutes were littered with errors and penalties given away in desperation. Hewat landed one of them to make it 12-16, and there was no chance of the Reds scoring the try they needed.

As the hooter sounded, Wendell Sailor picked up the ball and booted it with venom at the crowd which had spent much of the game baiting and riling him in ugly fashion, before punching the air with undisguised happiness while his former team-mates were left to rue their shortcomings.

Man of the match: For the Reds, Sam Cordingley was the attacking threat, while Hugh McMeniman and John Roe were giants in defence. Phil Waugh was outstanding for the Waratahs at the rucks, and Morgan Turinui was a constant threat, but the man of today's match was Lote Tuqiri, who caught, kicked, ran, and tackled perfectly every time. Yet another quality performance from Australia's Rugby League convert.

The scorers:

For the Reds:
Pens: Flatley 4

For the Waratahs:
Try: Elsom
Con: Hewat
Pens: Hewat 3

Teams:

Reds: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Tim Atkinson, 13 Julian Huxley, 12 Elton Flatley, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Sam Cordingley, 8 John Roe (captain), 7 David Croft, 6 Mitchell Chapman, 5 Hugh McMeniman, 4 Mark Connors, 3 Rodney Blake, 2 Sean Hardman, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 Tom Court , 18 James Horwill / Cameron Treloar, 19 Tom McVerry, 20 Nic Berry, 21 Lloyd Johansson, 22 Henari Veratau.

Waratahs: 15 Sam Norton-Knight, 14 Wendell Sailor, 13 Lote Tuqiri, 12 Morgan Turinui, 11 Peter Hewat, 10 Tim Donnelly, 9 Chris Whitaker (captain), 8 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Daniel Vickerman, 4 Will Caldwell, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Adam Freier, 1 Matt Dunning.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Alex Kanaar, 19 Wycliff Palu, 20 Stephen Hoiles, 21 Shaun Berne, 22 Daniel Halangahu.

Referee: Matt Goddard (Australia)
Touch judges: George Ayoub, Daniel Cheever (both Australia)
Television match official: Geoff Acton (Australia)
Assessor: Mick Keogh or Terry O'Connor (Australia)