Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, cribbing an old Joe Louis line, once famously said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
The NSW Waratahs started their Super Rugby Pacific season with a plan to contend for the title – or at least make the top four – and after winning their first two games, things seemed on track.
Then they ran into the Hurricanes on Friday night at Allianz Stadium.
“Super Rugby’s a hard competition. And, unfortunately, you might have nights where you get punched in the face,” Waratahs captain Matt Philip said.
The Waratahs were given a bloody lip in a 59-19 thumping, in what was their second-biggest loss at home by both margin (after the Brumbies 51-10 win in 2002) and score conceded (after the Canes posted 64 in 2021).
To add significant injury to the insult, star centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii suffered a hamstring tear in the warm-up during an innocuous run-through and is set for an extended stint sidelined, for the second consecutive year.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii during the Waratahs warm-up, prior to his injury.Credit: Getty Images
Suaalii was set to have scans on the injury on Saturday to determine the length of his recovery, but coach Dan McKellar said his star man was “pretty sore” and he expected to be without him for longer than “a couple of weeks”.
If Suaalii is out for six weeks, as is common for a decent hamstring injury, that would see the Tahs’ marquee man miss over half of the team’s 11 remaining games. Last year Suaalii played seven games for NSW with toe and jaw injuries.
The plans of the Waratahs – which had Suaalii as a strong presence in the midfield – will need a major adjustment, and the issue for McKellar is the Waratahs shallowest depth is the midfield.
Ex-Force utility George Poolman was called into the starting side for the Canes’ game, and perhaps understandably, had a mixed night. With Henry O’Donnell taking time out due to personal reasons, Joey Walton is the only other recognised centre on the roster.
Joey Walton tackles against the Canes.Credit: Getty Images
Andrew Kellaway and Triston Reilly have trained at No.13, and Lawson Creighton is also a No.12 option. Zach Fittler is in the Waratahs wider squad but is not at Super Rugby level yet. With an expensive stable of backs, clubless NRL star Zac Lomax is not on the Waratahs radar.
Despite this, the Waratahs’ plan to contend for the title hasn’t changed, according to Philip and McKellar, but how they’ll go about beating the Reds in Brisbane next weekend will undergo a searching review, according to the coach.
The Waratahs were beaten by a smart and powerful Canes side, particularly in the second half, after the Kiwis successfully applied pressure at set-pieces and the breakdown. It not only denied NSW attacking momentum, but also turned the ball over and helped the Canes launch their own attack.
The Waratahs then fatigued and popped rivets across the rest of their game, by kicking poorly, giving away two yellow cards and botching defensive assignments.
Winger Max Jorgensen was one of the few to walk away with credit, and young outside back Sid Harvey also looked promising on debut off the bench.
Philip led a player huddle on the field post-game where the message was “this is not us”, and he said there’ll be a response with actions – not words – against the Reds.
“I’d like to think we’re very confident and connected and we’re going to show that next week,” he said.
“If we react well and put this behind us and put in a good performance against a strong Queensland Reds team up in Suncorp, that’ll show what type of group we are.”
Even with the Waratahs still in the top half of the ladder and only entering round five, the next week looms as a potentially make-or-break one for their season.
McKellar said “understanding the why” they fell away so badly would be a priority, and there’d be some “ugly reviewing”. Re-upping confidence levels will also be a focus, however.
“We’re not going to sit in there and get the hairdryer out in terms of giving them a spray or anything like that,” he said.
“We were well beaten … We’re disappointed with our execution. As Matty said, we’ve just got to make sure that we get a response.
“But you can get a response attitudinally. The key is we’ve got to make sure we get our execution better than what it was.
“We certainly didn’t get ahead of ourselves off the back of the first two wins. We … weren’t patting ourselves on the back or falling in love with ourselves.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
