Once again, the Waratahs have flattered to deceive. After finishing third in the competition phase of the 2010 Super 14, and recording some notable wins, the Waratahs have fallen at the first hurdle in the finals phase.
Once again, an Australian provincial rugby team has been found wanting when it really mattered. Conceding seven kickable penalties is simply unforgivable. 21 points head start or the equivalent of 3 converted tries.
What were they thinking?
Where were the leaders as the crisis built?
Where were the experienced wallabies when it counted? Polota Nau, Baxter, Waugh, Burgess, Barnes or Mitchell.
The scoring tally looked like this:
Peter Grant (pen)
9m
Peter Grant (pen)
12m
Peter Grant (pen)
51m
Peter Grant (pen)
56m
Peter Grant (pen)
63m
Peter Grant (pen)
66m
In the period from the 51st minute to the 66th minute, the Waratahs conceded four penalties. Using the rugby equivalent of tennis’s game, set, match, the quarter, the half and the game were lost in this 15 minute period.
It’s not as though the Stormers were scoring tries so freely that the Waratahs needed to push the rules (and in the danger zone where Peter Grant could kick the goals) to get the ball away from their opposition. Possession across the game was 50 per cent to each team.
The Waratahs won the rucks and mauls 82 to 58, turnovers 27 to 10, runs 86 to 61 and made 30% less tackles and Stormers, 56 to 90.
But they conceded 21 avoidable and unnecessary points to arguably the best team in the 2010 competition.
Call me old fashioned. Call me anything (except late for dinner), but I just don’t get it.
In this age of fulltime professional rugby players’, with direct and effective communication from coaches to players during a game, with extensive video analysis, with sports psychologists, how can a team failed to score a try while conceding 18 points (and possibly an additional three points) from penalties in a sudden death semi final?
I just don’t get that.
The only conclusion to be drawn is that, by comparison to the Super 14’s best teams, the Crusaders, the Bulls and ( if the current performances continues in years to come) the Stormers, the Waratahs lack the most important ingredient for any aspiring rugby team, mental strength.
By that, I mean the ability to understand the game while it is in progress, adapt tactics and playing style on the run and maintain concentration and intensity for the full 80 minutes.
Down just seven points, 13-6, after 51 minutes, the game was there to be won.
History has repeated itself. The Waratahs remain an enigma. Their impressions of “Bully Boys” against the weaker teams but then failing to beat any of the other 3 semi finalists, puts them need two if not on top of the infamous “flatter to deceive” awards along with Graeme Hick.
What is to be done? Interestingly, the current Waratahs organisation requires relatively little in terms of quantity but a lot in terms of quality.
The board of New South Wales Rugby need to acknowledge that this is an issue of the Pareto principle and that the current coaching staff had failed to address the single most important issue facing the New South Wales HSBC Waratahs: mental strength.
If they are really serious, they will move the Hickey team on now and replace them, for the 2011 season, with coaches that have a track record of addressing mental strength and changing cultures within an organisation to achieve this new paradigm. White and Cheika come to mind. I’m sure that there are others.
It has been no surprise to me that Hickey and Wisemantel have failed to address this issue. However, I am surprised that Michael Foley and does not appear to have been able to inculcate mental strength into the Waratahs pack. All career coaches make mistakes.
Foley needs to make sure that he doesn’t overlook this issue again.
Meanwhile, and until this issue is addressed, the New South Wales Waratahs will flatter to deceive.
Antony
Guest
Still cannot work out why Nemani Nadolo can't get a run...?? the guy is big, fast, and scores tries... Anyway, seems to late to worry now... Antony
Mals
Guest
Scott, league players are as guilty of falling off tackles as union players. The technique of going high in league to stop the attacking player off loading the ball leaves the tackler susceptible to a fend or a hit & spin. Then you also have league players going in for the shoulder charge (illegal in union) which often results in them missing the ball runner altogether!
Brucy B
Guest
Burgess played well? Did you watch the game?
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
lucyfanclub, and Jameswm, OJ did hit the nasil on the head. home semi or die. that is the message and one that was being shouted from the early rounds when they were playing conservative, low try scoring rugby. there would be a reckoning and, like last year, there was little in it. last year one try in for and against. this year, two bonus points. they rarely finished within the 7 points when they lost!!! were not scoring enough points!!!!!!!! simple. they are the rules of the comp. lets embrace them!!!!!!
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
tahds had amlost 50% more ruck and mauls. this doesnt reflect the effectiveness of that possession. overall, possession was 50:50. barely and rarely in it. phew. what a damning criticism for a team that has so much riding on it, and who was playing against a known rival and in a sudden death semi final. surely, you would at least expect to turn it into a "drag 'em out" affair!!!! you know the sort, displays of bravery, courage and execution under pressure from both teams.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
rab, I used the term mental strength, not toughness. mental toughness is part of mental strength. semantics I know, but worth the clarification. correct, they keep grinding on with the plan. if there was a plan B, it didnt include Horne, their excellent, if not best, attacking weapon.!!!!
lucyfanclub
Guest
I knew it was just a matter of time before someone blamed the ref....
Mr Saunders
Roar Guru
Toulon went from soft to really tough?
Jameswm
Guest
OJ hit the nail on the head. That decided the match - that with the choice of officials.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
LAS - I was surprised by the Stats and would have thought that the Stormers beat us up in the breakdown. What is even more scary is that this means the Stormers made great decisions about which rucks to attack and which to stay out of. The Tahs decision making seems to be 'this one looks hard, I will stand in the D'. It also shows that the Stats are only a chink of an insight into the game. If in doubt the Manager is to blame, is my standard M.O. If you did not know the outcome and only read these Stats you would swear the Tahs had won the game and the truth, from this old forwards book, is they were barely and rarely in it.
Justin
Guest
LAS - you have to be kidding if you think Burgess is the 2nd best 9 in AUS. He CANT pass! That is where you have to start when talking about 9s. He stifles the rest of the backs with his woeful passing. Yes he has good days but they are far outweighed by his poor ones. O'Young, Valentine, Kingi are all much better passes of the ball. I was really disappointed O'Young retired. He was the best 9 in AUS behind Genia this year.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Waugh is tough, just look at his nose. But, he is relatively small. 5'7". as regards the backs, arguably the best ever Aust team, the 1984 wallabies, played simple rugby, no magic passes. They threw short passes, reducing the risk, but recognising that the ball is the fastest object on the field. So, when you face a big pack, run em around. Melon, I'm with you. I didnt expect them to win. Actually tipped against them. thats a head decision!!!! Yes, they are the only team to make the finals. But, pro sport is about winning things, particularly when you hold such an important position in your code as the Tahs do!!!!
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Look at what St Andre has done with Toulon in one season. they went from soft to really tough!!!!! As regards the contact, I dont know? I am referring to the contact above the shoulders!!!!
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Burgess is the second best half in aust. Barnes? I was a fan until the tahs back coach got a hold of him!!!! He will be lucky to make the Wallabies bench in 2010!!!! Carter profited from being the last ball runner standing!!!! Thats sport!!!! They started from a shallow pool of ball runners and the Palu tripped as he entered the pool!!!! (Euphemistically speaking!!!!) Who else was there in the ball running pool back in Feb?? What happened to the bloke with one of the best nick names: "Dud" as in dud root!!!! I see in the press that the consensus is that they were outmuscled. Maybe. But, conceding 6 penalties and 18 points doesn’t have anything to do with being outmuscled. Out thought??? Definitely!! So, then they say, in the next breath, that the Tahs failed to capitalise on the breaks made, by Turner and Carter!!!! Call that 12 points, don’t concede the penalties and all of a sudden you have a 30 point turnaround!!!! Rugby is a game of strategy and tactics. For every tactic, there is an opposite tactic to combat it!!!! This is all in the public domain!!!! So, if the opposition have big guys, run ‘em around and play an up tempo game like the Reds did against the Bulls!!!! Remember the scene: the Bulls were so rooted, that they kicked for touch, and then walked slowly to the line out. The Reds ran to the lineout, set up and waited for the Bull’s big units, with the clear message. “Do ya want some more of that?????” Further, don’t give a bigger team the ball, and then capitalise on the breaks when they come. But, that comes with every professional game of rugby.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
It would appear to me that the big issue for the NSW Waratah's is not so much a lack of "mental toughness" but a lack of insight and adaptability. It seems to me that when the going gets tough, they simply grind on with the plan, even when it is clear the plan is not working. They do not seem to have the ability to adapt and evolve the game plan as the the game changes. The first option is one out from the ruck, if not kick plan doesn't work too often. So then they need to go to Plan B - But was there ever a Plan B?
formeropenside
Guest
No, Australian rugby does not require NSW to perform: remember the 1980's and 1990's when the Tahs were a perpetual rabble, and yet the Wallabies won grand slams and world cups? That is when Queensland was strong, and it is Queensland that produces the best of Australian rugby - witness their dominance at schoolboy level for the last 5+ years, and the fact that the talent raped away by the Brumbies, Force, and even Tahs is irreplaceable. Even the Tahs top attacking weapon, Mitchell, is, you may note, a Queenslander. As is key backline general Barnes. Surely if NSW produce so much talent, they dont need to raid other States.
Who Needs Melon
Guest
They need Melon! There was a guy who had the mental toughness of a brick. I'll preface the rest of these comments by saying I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the last Tahs game yet. To be fair to the Waratahs DO seem to have at least one guy in a the Melon mold in Waugh but what they are lacking is a Gregan or Larkham figure in the backs - guys who had mental and physical toughness (yes, even Larkham - especially Larkham!) and the astuteness to read games, dictate tactics AND influence those around them. Compare and contrast the various figures that have occupied the Waratahs 9 and 10 jumpers. We were HOPING Barnes would bring more but... sadly, not. Now I have praised the positives of Gregan I will also comment on his negatives - his famous "passion is overrated" quote. For me professionalism saw the introduction of a just-going-about-my-job attitude and I feel there are a few players in a few aussie teams who do their job and do it reasonably but when challenged by a nutcase or nutcases in the opposition team - guys like Burger or Bekker who seem to be possessed by something - just seem to back down a little and follow their own internal procedures manual without really trying to rise to the challenge. It seems to me they are thinking it's not really worth it for them. I don't want to be too hard on the Tahs. I didn't expect them to win this game and didn't expect them to do as well as they did in this competition. So I think they've achieved beyond expectations this year - my expectations anyway. I don't expect they are going to make drastic personnel changes for next year so I will expect about the same (maybe a little worse) next year. So are we going to get the same guys following the same procedures manuals next year (and the same speeches) or is someone going to throw the manual out the window and surprise us?
ScottWoodward.me
Guest
I have tuned in for most of the Tahs games and each time i have been shocked at their lack of ability on how to tackle properly. They should watch the State of Origin this Wednesday night.
Red Rooster
Guest
Rumours are they dont do much contact training so they may be missing practicing the reality of the game which LAS correctly asserts is missing and may lead to developing mental toughness - has anyone else heard if this is the case??
SellOut
Guest
Tom Carter is so overrated. I have dreaded seeing him on the field.