New South Wales Waratahs got their Super Rugby season off to a solid start with a comfortable 30-10 victory over their oldest rivals the Queensland Reds at Sydney Football Stadium Saturday. Champions two years ago, the Waratahs came into the season with a new coach in Daryl Gibson after Michael Cheika stood down to focus on the Wallabies but gave every indication they would be a force to be reckoned with again this year. Tries from skipper Michael Hooper, winger Mark Carraro and debutant centre David Horwitz gave them a 20-0 halftime lead and scrumhalf Nick Phipps crossed after the break to bag the bonus point. Kurtley Beale had a sparkling hour at flyhalf in place of Wallaby Bernard Foley, former All Black Zac Guildford was a constant threat on the wing and Hooper was his usual workaholic self at openside flanker. The Reds, 13th out of 15 teams last year, had some bright moments in attack but were unable to capitalize on their chances and things already look bleak for coach Richard Graham. Their cause was not helped by yellow cards shown to skipper Rob Simmons and Sam Talakai either side of halftime, while the late sin-binning of Waratahs prop Jeremy Tilse only led to uncontested scrums. Their best chance of a try in the first half came in the 20th minute but Beale produced a crunching covering tackle on winger Chris Feauai-Sautia that earned him a standing ovation from the 24,044 crowd. The Reds gave a debut to Japan's World Cup hero Ayumu Goromaru and he came off the bench to get them on the scoreboard with a penalty four minutes after the break. Young flyhalf Jake McIntyre cut through to finally get them over the tryline just before the hour mark but the Waratahs soon restored the three-try cushion required for a bonus point that was introduced this year. Beale raced through and chipped the ball past Goromaru and although he was clattered into the ground by the Japanese, Phipps won the race to the ball to touch down. In Christchurch, Chiefs captain Sam Cane scored from a lineuout drive in the 77th minute to clinch a 27-21 win over the Crusaders in another match. Fullback Damian McKenzie had converted his own try nine minutes earlier to give the Hamilton-based Chiefs a 22-21 advantage in a match in which had five lead changes. But it took Cane's try three minutes before fulltime to seal a gripping contest in which neither side led by more than six points. Richie Mo'unga stepped into the boots of retired flyhalf Dan Carter and scored 16 points for the Crusaders, lifting the Christchurch team to a 21-15 lead before the two late tries sealed the Chiefs' victory. In Perth, Reece Hodge produced one of the great Super Rugby debuts to help the Melbourne Rebels beat the Western Force 25-19. The former Australian under-20s center was recruited from the Manly Marlins and could scarcely have been more impressive in his first game for the Rebels. Hodge, 22, ran in two tries and backed it up with his powerful left boot, with two penalties and two conversions meaning he scored all but five of his team's points in their 25-19 win.
