The Waratahs lost another prop and the Brumbies lost contact with the Super rugby finals as NSW scored a grinding 19-12 win in a dour Australian derby at ANZ Stadium on Saturday.
In wet and slippery conditions, a Waratahs regular season record crowd of 40,271 witnessed an arm wrestle with both teams largely favouring a field position game based on kicking.
The result kept NSW in fifth spot and moved them six points clear of the Brumbies with three rounds remaining.
“It keeps us in touch with that top four and gives us plenty to play for over the next three weeks,” NSW coach Chris Hickey said.
Hopeful of getting back prop Benn Robinson (forearm), hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau (shoulder) and centre Rob Horne (buttock) next week, Hickey revealed Wallabies prop Sekope Kepu was likely to miss the next two matches with a calf strain.
A bonus point ensured the Brumbies clung onto sixth on points differential ahead of the Hurricanes, but left them at least seven points adrift of fourth with only a mathematical chance of making the semi-finals.
Numerous scrum and breakdown penalties awarded by referee Steve Walsh added to the frustration, especially for the Brumbies.
Brumbies captain and No.8 Stephen Hoiles sought a number of clarifications from Walsh, who on one occasion dubiously penalised the No.8 for playing on and then pinged him 10 metres for disputing the decision, which gave Halangahu a far less testing kick.
“It was pretty good him talking the way he did, because it gave us another 10 metres and then we were able to put the kick over and the kick only went over by about two metres, so that was a pretty important kick in the context of the game,” NSW skipper Phil Waugh said.
Hoiles, who along with Brumbies coach Andy Friend was adamant Adam Ashley-Cooper shouldn’t have had a try disallowed for a double movement, said he didn’t swear at Walsh.
“I just suggested it was a rubbish decision and he just marched me. I shouldn’t have said that,” Hoiles said.
“I’m not saying that he cost us the game, I just felt that the Waratahs in that style of footy are one of the best teams in the comp at grinding out a win.
“The overall consensus was we just felt we weren’t getting rewarded for an effort, we were trying to have a crack.”
NSW scored ten unanswered points after the break against a Brumbies side which failed to solve their season-long conundrum of converting possession into points.
The game produced just one try, when NSW winger Lachie Turner got ahead of his injured Brumbies counterpart Alfie Mafi and reeled in a chip kick from centre Berrick Barnes with one hand to cross in the 50th minute.
Halangahu nailed the conversion and all four of his penalty attempts, while opposing five-eighth Matt Giteau landed four of his six penalty shots.
Halangahu booted NSW to a 9-0 lead. Giteau missed his first penalty, but nailed his next three to force a 9-9 halftime tie.
He potted a penalty just after the break to nudge NSW ahead again, before Turner finished off one of the few try scoring opportunities in the game.
Giteau landed a 62nd minute penalty to reduce the deficit to seven points.
The desperate Brumbies rarely threatened to produce the season-saving tries they needed against an NSW team happy to go from set piece to set piece and wind the clock down.
AndyS
Guest
I don't know if the point has been made already, but is anyone else feeling uneasy about the success of the S15 being so linked to the supposed appeal of local derbies? Reds-Bulls, Reds-Stormers, Force-Crusaders; great games to watch. But any one of the Aussie derbies this year; tight, tense games, but hardly engaging spectacles....
Wavell Wakefield
Roar Rookie
Glenn, if you cast your mind back England ran the ball in both the 1991 and 2003 finals.
eric
Guest
The first two posts on this long string summed it up. What a bloody let down this game was. Steve Walsh, now an Aussie, has the biggest ego I can recall in a ref, except maybe Bill Harrigan. Further, though, Phil Waugh got away with murder, often doing exactly what AAC did when he had the try disallowed. Phil Waugh killed the last move of the match illegally, just as he did against the Force. Al Baxter did not hold one scrum up. What is it with this bloke and the refs that he always packs so low, head below hips, and the outcome is inevitable. Are Andy Friend and Giteau himself the last two blokes in Australia who think Giteau should be 10? Please Robbie, come out and say "Aust cannot beat NZ, SA or England by attrition. I want to see enterprise"
Pete
Guest
I'll take the win (sheepishly because the Brumbies did score), but it was a tough game to watch. Compare the Tahs vs. Brumbies game to the Randwick vs. Easts on the weekend. Great running rugby... perhaps some of the big time NSW and ACT boys should go back to their roots and remember how they use to play in club rugby. http://www.abc.net.au/sport/stories/2010/04/26/2882660.htm?site=sport§ion=rugbyunion
jameswm
Guest
PeterK The fact is in a local derby, the defence and intensity lifts. How much do the Lions or Cheetahs or Highlanders care personally about NSW? The Brumbies hate us, and the intensity leaves most other games involving the same teams for dead. They are more desperate than usual. That means they move up faster, defend better as a team and keep it going. All that makes it harder than usual to run it.
jameswm
Guest
Sheek I'm not talking about other occasions. I was talking about Sat night. Fair's fair. This year the Tahs have been enterprising enough for me - after the first couple of rounds anyway. You have to pick your time to run it. The Reds didn't run it either on the weekend - they ground out the win against good opposition. No one's noticed that - though to their credit it was the right thing to do in the circumstances.
Spencer
Guest
ANZ Stadium actually.
Spencer
Guest
BTW - Daly and Robinson are both Looseheads.
Spencer
Guest
Please tell me that was a typing error..."WAUGH". No, no, no,no...never, ever. Did you not read what McKenzie said about Waugh? He is cancer!!
Dan
Guest
You also play to your conditions though. Slippery ball on a wet ground does call for caution. Look, I'm not saying that it was a great game, but the Tahs have actually played some pretty good ball in hand rugby this season and I just get a little fed up with how quickly people seem to bag them when they don't do it every single week.
Peter K
Guest
Dan yes you play to your opposition, and that is why I was so angry with the Tahs. Brumbies backline is a lot weaker than their forwards, so we should of run it more. The few times we did we easily punched holes and made yards. This is why Hickey and Waugh are brain dead, they do not play to the opposition.
Dan
Guest
You have to think about it though, the Tahs had a pack to hold the Brumbies, a solid kicking game and a tight defence. What did the Lions have in their favour against the Bulls? Well, not a lot really. As a coach a situation where you're outgunned so heavily in the forwards really only gives you one option: try run them ragged. People seem to be forgetting that you play to your opposition.
Dan
Guest
Rubbish. Australia has had provinces that have always championed running rugby, and that's generally because they've been good it at - but it's never been whole-heartedly embraced by everyone. The Tahs used to play very good running rugby years ago, and thus they used to champion it. Then the Brumbies became the new exponent and the Tahs started playing more conservatively. Now the Brumbies and the Tahs are playing conservative rugby (though I'd argue the Tahs have actually played a bit of running rugby this year too - just inconsistently) and the Reds are the new champions of the ball in hand game because - you guessed it - they're bloody good at it and it's winning them games!
Dan
Guest
Don't you mean like watching the 2007 RWC? England playing South Africa was basically the same as that Tahs Brumbies match, except the latter was actually MORE exciting.
Tom B
Guest
well said. it probably wasn't a try - two officials certainly didn't think so - and since it wasn't awarded anyway, time to move on. there was more than one dubious penalty in that match.. but what's new. even under 12s know you can't talk that to the ref like that. perhaps walsh had on off day - perhaps he didn't. no need to get melodramatic about it. 'stood down'..? ridiculous.
Peter K
Guest
Furtheromre of course the captain can talk to the ref BUT he cannot question his decisions and he can never abuse him by saying it was a crap call. SMART captains question decisions with questions like Í thought you are onside when the half touches the ball in the ruck'or in Hoiles case he could of said I thought I broke the tackle sir
Peter K
Guest
Apelu you are full of it. So a journos opionion matches yours so what. My views are very informed thank you, far more than yours. On the no try I O'Biren said at a quick glance it looked a try, and that he should of gone to the TMO. If you read above I also said the same thing, that initially it looked a try but should go to TMO. However at slow mo it does look like AAC lunges and raises his knees off the ground this is illegal, You may place the ball in any direction but cannot get off the ground. Once again I said this could of gone either way but I happen to agree with the TJ and Walsh on it. If it was momentum and AAC didnt lunge again which it looks like he did then it was a fair try. Hoiles was unfairly penalised as I noted but for saying it was a crap call deserved to be walked, you cannot talk to the ref that way.
johnny-boy
Guest
Like Kearns I thought Walsh was initially trying to make a genuine effort to communicate clearly and openly with the players but the players decided they would try and be smart arses and took that as a signal he was massage-able and tried to push their luck too far. It may have cost a few players likes Hoiles and Waugh a wallaby jumper and some future income so it serves them right. When you get old and cranky and are no longer up to playing the game on your merit, that's what players do. It's waving a red flag to the selectors that you're simply not up to rigours and pace of test rugby. How dumb a smarty pants can you be ?
JK
Guest
I'd rather see a few wins this year, I have different expectations at test level, and winning a few against the Ab's and Boks IS No 1 priority. The Reds have not played any big guns away from home, let's see how they go against the Brumbies in Canberra.
Apelu Tielu
Guest
Folks, Can I ask you to read Wayne Smith's article in the Australian (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/referee-steve-walsh-should-be-replaced-for-brumbies-v-reds-match-in-canberra/story-e6frg7mf-1225858112480), and what Peter Marshal said about Steve Walsh and his decision making and game management (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/a-controversial-no-try-decision-may-have-cost-the-brumbies-a-win/story-e6frg7mf-1225858113010)? I hope that will help clarify the clearly biased and uninformed views expressed so far, especially from Peter K, on the right of the captain to talk to the ref and the decision to disallow AAC's legitimate try. If the ref panel is consistent, Walsh has to be stood down, as it did with Paul Marks when he gave the Tahs an undeserved win against the Sharks. The Tahs has earned 8 points due to poor refereeing in their favour. But good luck to them and their long suffering fans.