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The Waratahs suffer from a split personality

24th February, 2018
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The superstar talents of Folau and Beale went along way to get the Waratahs a win (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
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24th February, 2018
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When flanker Ned Hanigan crashed over for a try after the final hooter last night, the split personality Waratahs had opened their Super Rugby account with a nail-biting 34-27 success over the Stormers at Allianz.

There was nothing in it with 17-all at oranges, and 27-all with time up, but the exciting all-out attack Waratahs surfaced after a poor Stormers lineout feed gave the men-in-light-blue a sniff.

How Hugh Roach, Jed Holloway, Bernard Foley, and debutant prop Harry Johnson-Holmes managed to keep their cool to send Hanigan on his way to the winner’s circle is what the Waratahs are all about.

But there’s another side to the Waratahs’ character.

That’s the poor handling, the wrong options, the turnovers, the missed tackles, the dumb penalties given away, and the crap scrummaging that keeps the opposition in the game.

Medically it’s called dissociative identity disorder, or split personality.

And fans had better get used to it, even though there is heart attack potential for those who watch helplessly in the stand.

I lost count of the number of loud expletives I threw at the television last night, as the lead changed five times in the 80 minutes.

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The repetition was simple – the Waratahs edged in front and almost immediately let down their guard to let the Stormers back in.

The credits belonged to the usual suspects – Israel Folau, Kurtley Beale, and Foley’s 100 per cent boot.

Folau does things on the rugby field no-one else can do.

In the first half he set sail following a high, long, Foley bomb to pluck the ball out of Stormers’ fullback SP Marais arms and run 25 metres to touch down with no-one anywhere near him.

Sheer brilliance.

In the second half, Folau wrapped himself around JJ Engelbrecht to prevent a try in-goal.

KB Lager was a big-selling beer in its day, but Kurtley Beale is a far better Waratah than that rating.

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In the opening minutes, with nothing on, Beale chip kicked and went within a whisker of regaining possession to score.

Later in the half he was robbed of a try when a Stormer hand deliberately knocked on with Beale ready to score, and wasn’t even penalised.

In the second half he threw physical caution to the wind following a Foley chip to go within centimetres of scoring.

Why Folau and Beale aren’t used more often in tandem beggars belief – they are such obvious game-breakers.

If Foley wasn’t a champion goal-kicker, he wouldn’t be in the side with 22-year-old Mack Mason kicking his door down.

Mason is an exceptional talent to set Beale up to strut his spectacular stuff.

The other credit is new halfback Jake Gordon.

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Incumbent Nick Phipps is injured, but he won’t get back in when he recovers because Gordon doesn’t loiter around the set plays directing traffic, he gets on with it in a hurry with slick and accurate service which had been denied by Phipps.

Last night after the game eight new Waratah caps were awarded to further celebrate the win – that’s a staggering number of debutants in the same game.

The debits of this split personality side were headed by the scrum, or lack of it.

How the Waratahs miss vastly experienced prop Sekope Kepu whose suspension from the Wallaby-Scotland international last year won’t run on until round three.

Paddy Ryan and Tom Robertson just don’t cut the mustard, so the Waratah scrum will struggle.

Coach Daryl Gibson can only deal the cards he has in the roster.

But there are no excuses for the 24 turnovers, many of them in try-scoring positions, nor the 12 penalties awarded for simple lack of concentration.

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So the Waratahs’ next two games are at Durban and Buenos Aires, but the long flights will be more bearable with that win under their belts.

A final thought for last nights referee, the Australian Angus Gardner.

He’s been selected to control the vital clash between England and Ireland that will decide the Six-Nations – there’s no bigger game in the tournament.

If Gardner is as inconsistent with his rulings there as he was last night, Eddie Jones will eat him up and spit out the left-overs.

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