McKellar questions no-try ruling after Gordon seals thrilling wins for Reds

Carter Gordon has thrown his hand up as the frontrunner for the Wallabies No.10 jumper, with his two-try heroics orchestrating a 26-17 triumph by the the Queensland Reds over the Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium.

It took more than an hour for the match to emerge from what had been a dour affair to an enterprising thriller, once both teams shelved the endless exchange of box kicking and chanced their arm through the hands.

With Test coach Joe Schmidt watching from the stands, it appeared it would be New South Wales who would steal the points in Brisbane, after they broke a 7-7 deadlock – which had lasted 41 minutes – courtesy of a rolling maul try to Ioane Moananu.

That scoreline had lasted since the 16th minute, after Waratahs flanker Jamie Adamson – a late inclusion for Charlie Gamble – charged over to hit back after Gordon’s bomb and Campbell’s kick pressure had set up Wallabies skipper Harry Wilson for the opening try.

But as the final 20 minutes dawned, the floodgates finally opened. Campbell sliced through the middle of the park and found a late offload for Reds flanker Joe Brial to get deep into Waratahs territory.

The attempted long ball to the wing from halfback Kalani Thomas was knocked down, however Gordon was on hand to pick up the scraps and score his first.

Shortly after, Wallabies flyer Max Jorgensen broke free of his slumber – having been kept far more quiet than his two-try exploits when these teams last faced in round one. The 21-year-old ended his run down the right-hand sideline with a kick ahead, before getting another boot in between Campbell and Filipo Daugunu to toe ahead for Harry Potter to score.

Daugunu was quick to respond with a long-range break from his own backfield, linking up with Isaac Henry to score, before Waratahs centre Triston Reilly sought to produce something truly special with a remarkable acrobatic dive into the corner.

Replays showed the No.13 had put the ball over the sideline upon grounding it, and it wasn’t long after when Gordon burst into the clear around halfway and showed impressive pace to make the line. He left Wallabies winger Harry Potter for dead after taking him on, on the outside.

“We’re seeing that at training,” Reds coach Les Kiss said of Gordon’s eye-popping speed. “I was trying to give him a bit of a rest, I didn’t want to play him for these long minutes because we had a lot of injuries.

“I just couldn’t give him that rest early and we needed to keep one in the pocket. We’re doing a lot to manage some of the kicking load with him and doing the right things there.“

“There were a lot of guys who stood up and absorbed a lot of ball possession pressure. We knew if we stayed in the fight we had a plan, it wasn’t always totally accurate, but the plan got us to a point where we knew the last 15 minutes could be important for us.“

The second half chaos masked what had been a limp encounter until that point, with the clash billed as the derby rivalry of Australian rugby descending into a scrap.

The opening stanza became a battle fought between the 22-metre lines, with more than half of the total possession coming between the Waratahs 22 and halfway.

Box kicking also took precedence for the opening hour, with rival halfbacks Louis Werchon – who came up with one brilliant 50-22, only for the Reds to immediately knock on – and Jake Gordon punting six times each in the first 40 minutes, as their five-eighths sought to spread the ball to little avail.

While the luckless Henry, who has endured one of the game’s more horrifying injury runs, showed impressive signs on Saturday night, the Reds will be hopeful of welcoming back the more imaginative Hunter Paisami from a leg injury in the No.12 jumper in time for the club’s trip to Fiji – where they are yet to win – to face the Drua.

“It’s not the first time he’s thrived, everyone in the Reds environment knows how exceptional Isaac is,” Fraser McReight said about Henry. “He has had a terrible run with injuries and it hurts every single one of us because we know how good he is. He gets an opportunity, he just has a crack and puts himself in every position – he’s so skillful, physical and strong – so when we don’t have Hunter he steps up.“

Reds coach Les Kiss will be pleased by his side’s resilience - overcoming a 12-5 penalty count, while attempting 77 more tackles by full-time.

Here are the post-match thoughts of Carter Gordon from the Stan crew.

The Reds’ instinctive attack sealed the victory but their defence won them the game. It kept the Waratahs pointless in the middle part of the game when they should have scored via weight of possession.

The Waratahs had a significant majority of possession all night - it ended up about 60% - and that turned into a huge amount of defence for the Reds. They made 184 tackles to the Waratahs 104, and they only missed 19. That’s an impressive 90%.

The Waratahs had 141 carries to the Reds’ 90 but NSW were held to just 299 post contact metres. That was just 18 metres more than the Reds. Credit goes to the Reds forward pack, who slowed the breakdown and stifled the Tahs’ momentum.

For a second straight week, the Waratahs conceded over 20 turnovers, too.

The Reds were well-served by the usual suspects: Daugunu, McReight, Campbell and Gordon. But they also got nice moments from Isaac Henry, Vaiuta Latu and Treyvon Pritchard.

For the Waratahs, Tom Lambert had one of his strongest games in sky blue, and Triston Reilly was also impressive after moving to no.13. Jamie Adamson was also excellent after being called in as a late replacement at no.7, following a hamstring concern for Charlie Gamble ahead of the game.

Oh man, this game has got to insane levels.

Carter Gordon just scored an incredible solo try from 50 metres out, beating three defenders and outpacing Potter on the outside.

That’s opened up a 9-point lead with only five minutes left.

75 mins: Reds 26 Waratah 17

Suncorp Stadium has come alive, on and off the field.

The Reds have scored a brilliant try to take the lead back, after the Waratahs kicked long from a quick lineout, and in the broken play, Filipo Daugunu carved up the Waratahs defence on counter. After a 30 metre run he found Isaac Henry, who raced in for a try.

70 mins: Reds 19 Waratahs 17

Okay, this is getting crazy now. The Waratahs have answered with yet another try, and this one came after a run and chip from that man Jorgensen.

He shifted down the right sideline and chipped over the top, and Campbell couldn’t clean it up. Harry Potter, who’d just come on, picked up an easy collection and scored.

All conversions from the last three kicks have been missed by the way.

65 mins: Waratahs 17 Reds 12