A newly-shorn Drew Mitchell spearheaded a record-breaking NSW effort as the Waratahs answered their critics with a 73-12 thrashing of the Lions in their Super 14 rugby clash at Sydney Football Stadium on Friday night.
Mitchell became the first Waratah to score four tries in a Super game and NSW also logged franchise Super records of 11 tries and eight conversions, all kicked by inside centre Berrick Barnes.
The team tally exceeded the Waratahs’ previous Super best of 53 points and eclipsed their former competition-best winning margin of 47.
Widely lambasted for a dour display in their season home opener against the Sharks, the Waratahs took just half an hour to earn a bonus point and scored five first-half tries to canter to a 33-5 lead at the interval.
They scored six more in the second half with winger Lachie Turner and replacement halfback Josh Holmes both finishing with two tries.
“You don’t go into a game expecting you might be able to score like that, but it’s not a surprise,” NSW coach Chris Hickey said.
“I guess it’s the culmination of things we’ve been working on for quite a while and it’s nice to see it all come off, that’s for sure.”
NSW were rewarded for not taking a single penalty shot at goal, instead opting for quick taps and kicks to touch for lineouts.
“It wasn’t that we threw away three points and ended up at the other end of the field. We actually took points away from when we made those decisions, rather than take penalty shots for goal,” NSW captain Phil Waugh said.
“Probably the most pleasing aspect was when we made mistakes we kept playing rather than reverting to kicking or going into our shells.
“The guys are going to a huge amount of effort to play a highly skilled game and play an entertaining game because the guys are fully aware that we want to get high crowds.”
Mitchell, who was boasting a shiny pate after a haircut earlier in the day, did some cutting of his own, both before and during the game.
“I actually had two haircuts. I had one this morning and I got home I wasn’t too pleased with it, so I got the clippers out and had a crack myself,” Mitchell said.
“I might have to put it into my pre-game ritual every week.
“The key thing for me and I guess the thing I’ll probably take most confidence out of, is you run those routes every week and sometimes you don’t get that pay.
“Tonight, it just seemed to sort of come off.”
He terrorised the Lions, though he did gift them a first-half try to opposing winger Tonderai Chavhanga after failing to ground a kick in his in-goal area.
The Waratahs rampage was set up by a strong forwards effort.
Waugh, who was making a NSW-record 119th appearance, and fellow flanker Dave Dennis were impressive, along with locks Dean Mumm and Kane Douglas.
Lions coach Dick Muir said it was a poor showing by his side, but felt the Waratahs deserved huge credit, especially on defence.
“We wanted to come out and play this evening. Unfortunately the Waratahs defence was outstanding and they didn’t give us too much space to move in,” Muir said.
“When we turned the ball over they just capitalised on that and it looked like we didn’t have any defence.”
The only injury concern for Hickey was a hamstring injury to No.8 Wycliff Palu.
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March 13th 2010 @ 10:05am
Working Class Rugger said | March 13th 2010 @ 10:05am | Report comment
The Lions were far from great last night. But on the other hand the Tahs never let them get any rythmn. You play with or against what to are presented with.This was best demonstrated in the second half. Even with the majority of the ball the Lions could only manage a single try and it wasn’t pretty. The Tahs played another game of two halves. In the first the opening attacked by building pressure and penetrating the Lions line. In the second they absorbed the Lions pressure in defence waiting for the inevitable mistake and then swarmed with speed, skill and fanatastic inter play particularly between the forwards. I have to agree with everything said. The entire forward pack were great all night it would be unfair any single anyone out ahead of the other’s. Holmes certainly out played Burgess. His slightly delayed pass to put Palu through the hole was lovely.
The only player I could critise as other’s already have is Carter. I just cannot warm to him. When Horne came on the backline became far more dynamic. His first touch he attacked the Lions line making 15-20m. The sooner he starts the better.
Like Bay I flicked over to the Broncos vs Cowboys game afterwards and the overall intensity and speed was markedly different. I know I’m a Rugby fan but just making and observation if I had to choose the Tahs comfortably won.
Overall, nice turnaround but still a ways to go. Hopefully they carry that over into Perth and beyond. With that style they could realistically challenge this season.
March 13th 2010 @ 10:11am
Working Class Rugger said | March 13th 2010 @ 10:11am | Report comment
Can anyone tell me how many times they actually kicked last night. Surely no more than 12 or so. The only times I can remember apart from Barnes’ cross field kicks were when they absolutely had too. It a good thing if I have to really stretch to remember a kicking duel. No attempts for points from penalties either from both sides. Good signs.
March 13th 2010 @ 10:40am
stu said | March 13th 2010 @ 10:40am | Report comment
Hey Pablo – you are joking about anesi yeh? the guy does very very little – holmes was very goo last night – he really showed burgess up
March 13th 2010 @ 10:46am
DCR said | March 13th 2010 @ 10:46am | Report comment
It was good, very good. The ladder will show 5 points but play like that is worth so much more. In a tough concentrated season like the Super 14 as the Chiefs showed last year a game like that can be more like a 10 point win. It builds confidence, pace in attack and combinations no amount of training can match. But its real worth is hidden. Just look on the players faces after the game, ask them how they slept last night, if they slept. Were they thinking of tough, bruising play? I doubt it. All of them would have be thinking of the time they strove to turn a half a yard of space into a full yard, or put a defender out of position or weakened them and gained even more space (acres of it) for their supports, and how they won the tackle contact or a quicker ruck clearance and how they freed their hands and delivered a weighted pass for their supporter to run onto at pace. All that is essential stuff to win competitions.
Eleven tries! Not five or even six, but ELEVEN. And one from a special first phase move. Am I dreaming? It did mean twelve kick off receipts and I don’t know how many we muffed; I can only remember four that we handled well. Do they train this stuff at night?
As usual we defended very well. The Lions came to attack and to their credit didn’t stop trying, but they were only kept to two tries and one was a gift. Mitchell will get the headlines, but Palau, Baxter and Polota-Nau deserve a lot of credit for doing the unrewarding tough stuff. They did some serious work at the breakdown, as Deans calls it putting frames in the way and on a few occasions even turning possession over. Dave Dennis’ fantastic running was also special. His style of play and skills perfectly balance Waugh and Palau’s hitting and scavenging. We really won it in the tackle and the inches and feet before, during and around the contact and the passing to build on the small but vital advantage gained. All contributed to the performance.
After the second half last week the intent to perform was clear in the energy and urgency of the warm up. The empty seats could not have gone unnoticed. Then to concentrate and keep the game at your standards rather than your opposition’s for the full 80 minutes was excellent.
The tahs are now well placed. We have few if any significant injury worries. Barnes should be fully rehabilitated after his serious injury. The bench has the potential to add a lot to the team’s performance. But as we all know one game does not a season make and tough games lie ahead, but we can look back and say that they will not be any tougher than the Bulls and Stormers games which were end of season in standard.
The only game worth anything now is the Force game. They beat us last year in a tough, narrow, defensive game. We need to match their vigour in the tackle, win the contact, combine well with energetic support, mix up our width and attacking options. We probably will not get away with running the ball from our 22 every time but we can do it if we opt to. An away win there is a juicy prospect in the scheme of things! Go Get em tahs!
March 13th 2010 @ 10:54am
matt said | March 13th 2010 @ 10:54am | Report comment
I think Anesi is a standout…as a one dimensional player with not much to offer.
March 13th 2010 @ 11:42am
DST said | March 13th 2010 @ 11:42am | Report comment
Easy up – a really good performance, but I’ll wait until we successfully play that style of game against some of the stronger teams before I start getting too excited. I’ve seen glimpses of this a few times in recent years only to see them go back into their shells when under pressure. Hopefully this match has shown the guys what they can do if they play rugby. The crowd certainly appreciated it and there was plenty of encouragement..
I don’t understand the Anesi critics – he has been the best back this season by a long stretch. He is a seriously classy player, rarely makes a mistake and isn’t afraid to counter-attack. I’m hoping Mitchell will maintain his confidence, he showed what he is capable of last night and looks much better running the ball than kicking. It was also good to see Beale and Horne get some match time. Beale’s development in particular has been held back by a lack of rugby.
The real standout was the pack in general play – great hard straight running and the support play was excellent.
The big test is over the next few weeks – a few more matches where the first option is to attack and the crowds will start building again.
March 13th 2010 @ 11:51am
Redhead said | March 13th 2010 @ 11:51am | Report comment
I’m no Tahs fan, but I have to admit they played great footy last night, albeit against pretty average opponents. The real test will come when they play the Auckland Blues in two weeks time.
March 13th 2010 @ 11:54am
Damo said | March 13th 2010 @ 11:54am | Report comment
There must be a reason for Carter running on. Is the reasoning to start with watertight defence?
Are they saving Horne for the finals? If they get there?
Beale looked very strong and assured when he came on.
Who is the 3rd string halfback? I’d like to see Holmes compete with him for the job. Burgess has moments of brilliance but we need 1st rate service to 10 for a whole game. I’d like to see Holmes start as half.
But congratulations to whole team, including Burgess and Carter. They all deserve to be proud of their effort.
March 13th 2010 @ 12:06pm
Onceinawhile said | March 13th 2010 @ 12:06pm | Report comment
I think Mckibbin is the other Half, and Hornes defence is better than Carter’s so that can’t be the reason. I think they are managing Horne and it won’t be long before he starts, would be devasting for him to sustain another injury now
March 13th 2010 @ 12:04pm
Jono said | March 13th 2010 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
If the Tahs play like that for the rest of the season they will be champs. 2010 is the year of the Waratah! and you all said the Brumbies were Australia’s best team! Looking at the draw I can’t see another game the Waratahs will lose this season.
March 13th 2010 @ 3:35pm
Hawko said | March 13th 2010 @ 3:35pm | Report comment
Not even the Saders away? Man you are an optimist, that game will be tough.
The Bulls have all their hard games at home and easy games away. That means the final will be at altitude – that game won’t be easy either.
March 13th 2010 @ 12:25pm
Gary said | March 13th 2010 @ 12:25pm | Report comment
It’s “Ladies Day” next week in Perth. The Tahs will fit in well.
March 13th 2010 @ 12:30pm
JK said | March 13th 2010 @ 12:30pm | Report comment
Is that something you are looking forward to Gary?