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Waratahs' win shows the importance of momentum

The Waratahs have persisted with Dean Mumm, while ignoring other talent. (AAP Image/NZPA, David Rowland)
Roar Guru
22nd May, 2017
72
1193 Reads

Momentum is one of the most important factors in sport. Often, a player or team will be dominant for part of a match, and then totally outplayed at other times.

It is rare that a team or player is dominant for the entirety of match.

The fact that so many best-of-five sets tennis matches go to the full five sets prove this. One would expect that the majority would be won in straight sets, or perhaps a player would lose the first set, switch into gear and win the next three. However, a large number go the distance.

What matters is how much a player or team makes their momentum count. Will they turn their momentum into a large number of points, or squander their chances?

Because of tennis’ unique scoring system, it is easy to mentally reset at the end of a set. Even if you lose it 6-0, at the end of the set you and your opponent are back at 0-0, and the dominance your opponent had means nothing.

It is much harder in a sport with a more conventional scoring system, such as rugby or soccer, to find periods where momentum can easily be swung – perhaps halftime is the only clear example.

This brings me to the Super Rugby clash between the Rebels and the Waratahs.

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Eighteen minutes in, the Waratahs were up 7-6, but committed seven penalties in a row when defending in their 22. Referee Angus Gardner had warned the Tahs multiple times about their cynical offences, and given a yellow card to Tolu Latu for going off his feet at the breakdown.

At this point, Dean Mumm committed another cynical offence, holding onto the ball for an extended period of time while on the ground. The Rebels scored soon afterwards, turning their momentum into points.

About ten minutes later, Michael Hooper made a break, before throwing a pass about a metre and a half forward to Nick Phipps. The Waratahs scored off this play, and completely turned the momentum of the match.

From this point onwards, the momentum was largely with the home side – aside from a brief period in the second half – who put on a fantastic attacking performance and raced away to win the match 50-23.

Some may say that because of the emphatic nature of the victory, the poor refereeing decisions by Gardner at the 20 and 30-minute mark made no difference to the outcome.

However, this overlooks the importance of the momentum shift. Playing with 14 men in rugby is tiring and difficult; playing with 13 men, exponentially more difficult.

Had Mumm been yellow carded – as he should have been, given Gardner’s multiple warnings to Hooper – the Waratahs would have had to play with 13 men for almost ten minutes. This would undoubtedly have tired them more, and have been a mental blow, as well as provided a rush of motivation to the Rebels.

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If the try scored by Hooper’s forward pass had been reviewed, the Rebels would have had a scrum feed in a decent position and NSW may never have gained momentum.

The purpose of this article is not to say that the Waratahs did not necessarily deserve the victory, but to show that the two refereeing decisions made by Gardner had a far greater impact on the match than a mere seven-point swing. The Waratahs would not have been able to score the remainder of those 50 points if they had not had the momentum from the time of Phipps’ try.

Congratulations to the Waratahs for turning around the momentum after such a diabolical start. That being said, rugby really needs to introduce a system by which teams can refer decisions to the TMO, as tennis does with the Hawkeye challenge system.

Having such a system may well have prevented the Waratahs from gaining the momentum, and may even have turned the result in the Rebels’ favour.

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