NSW Waratahs captain Dave Dennis is being refreshed by the challenge of using his smarts to counter the superior size of his second row rivals at opposing Super Rugby clubs.
Primarily a blindside flanker for several seasons, Dennis has moved back into the second row this year.
Listed as 112 kilos and 192 centimetres, Dennis is no pygmy.
However, he is conceding plenty of height and weight to most opposing locks and is 11 centimetres smaller and around 28 kilos lighter than his Waratahs’ second row colleague Will Skelton.
“I’ve never felt it’s a position you need to be 120 kilos,” Dennis said.
“It’s one of those positions where if you are smart about it and work on your technique you can get away with playing a bit lighter than the average lock, which obviously I am.
“But the way we play our game, there’s not too much difference in terms of my role.
“I’m still running the lineouts and I’ve been really focused on working hard in the scrum, getting better there, supporting (props )’Robbo’ (Benn Robinson) and `Tilsey’ (Jeremy Tilse) on that side.
“Around the field, if you look at the way we play, you end up being in the same position as I was last year.
“I’m really enjoying it. It’s a good challenge.
“It’s probably a bit of a refresher to be honest, that I have to think a little bit differently to what I did last year. It’s good.”
Dennis wasn’t subjected to excessive amounts of lineout work in the Waratahs first two games, as opposing teams tended to keep most of their kicks in play.
“They are giving us a lot of kick possession and not a lot of lineouts,” Waratahs’ attack coach Daryl Gibson said.
“Whether that’s a trend or what teams have identified in us, it’s certainly something we’ve looked at and monitoring really, just making sure that we understand how teams are trying to beat us.”
Dennis wants NSW to string together victories after their bye this weekend and avoid the alternate win-loss cycle that plagued them for several weeks in the early part of last season, prior to their title-clinching nine-match winning streak to end the campaign
“That’s something that we want to eliminate from our season,” Dennis said.
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