NSW Waratahs halfback Luke Burgess has pulled out one of his best games of the Super Rugby season to lead his side to a 31-3 victory over the Western Force at NIB Stadium on Saturday,
Burgess was pivotal in orchestrating most of the Waratahs’ tries in the crushing win which now has an already beleaguered Force side mourning its third consecutive defeat.
Fears the Force were in for a long and dismal night were ignited immediately with a dropped ball by inside centre Gene Fairbanks from the kick off.
Those concerns were not allayed by the Force’s early ill-discipline with the team conceding three penalties by the 13th minute.
Their only saving grace was Waratahs’ five-eighth Kurtley Beale’s poor showing with the boot, converting only one of the three early shots at goals.
Precocious Wallaby James O’Connor appeared to be the man who was going to single handedly change the game for the Force with the fullback levelling the scores with a penalty in the 20th minute before turning the Waratahs defence inside-out while running the ball back off a punt.
He off loaded to Cameron Shepherd but the winger had little support and was pulled up about 10 metres short in what was one of the rare glimpses of a potential try for the Force.
The latter part of the first half saw Burgess decide he was going to step up and the Wallaby representative took responsibility for two plays which saw the Waratahs’ cross the line before the half-time whistle
The Waratahs halfback beat both the Force’s halves in the 29th minute to put inside centre Tom Carter over the line.
Minutes later Burgess took the ball from the scrum giving it to winger Drew Mitchell who stepped past O’Connor and fended off Nick Cummins to cross.
Despite the Force coming out after half-time with solid defence which kept the Waratahs scoreless for 20 minutes, Burgess caused more pain for the Perth side by taking the ball from the ruck and slipping it to Beale.
The five-eighth finished it off and converted to take the score to 24-3 in the 63rd minute.
But minutes later Mitchell crossed for his second try after stepping through Shepherd and O’Connor putting the game beyond doubt.
Adding to the Force’s woes was the sin-binning to winger David Smith with 10 minutes left on the clock for a dangerous tackle which had the Perth crowd crying foul.
The fans were even more furious when Shepherd was left on the ground dazed after having his legs taken out from him by John Ulugia and landing on his head while jumping for the ball.
The referees missed the incident and failed to award a penalty while the Force winger was carted off.
The win means the Waratahs have beaten every other Australian team.
Force coach Richard Graham was clearly disappointed by the result and said not only was his side “out classed right across the field” but they gave up possession too easily.
“I think the half time stat was 71 per cent of territory to the Waratahs, so we were always under pressure,” Graham said.
“In terms of our defence, we lacked the sting that we have had.”
Waratahs captain Dean Mumm said he was happy the side was able to get the win away from home.
Even more rewarding was the fact the side now have so far beaten all other Australian teams, he said.
“It’s always a goal of ours at the Waratahs to play well against the other Australian teams and we’ve managed to beat them all so far which is pleasing,” he said.
“But we’ve got another round of them to go so if we can get eight of those it would be better than four.”
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
Who knows what you're going to get when the Tahs play the Force.........this one just played out to conventional wisdom, that's all. Oh well, onward and upward for the Force....a testing time ahead for their loyal fan base.
PeterK
Guest
Palu was far more dominant than McCalman the incumbent no 8. Houston was terrible, Higginbotham didnt have much impact for the Reds. The tight 5 and Samo was very good for the reds.
Short-Blind
Guest
Benn I thought that compared to what the Reds showed vs the Stormers that the Tahs pack was middling rather than BIG. Mumm again was soft and rarely goes forward. Cliffy played 50 without being dominant - he seems not to be hitting the gain line with the same reckless abandon of old. Really the game was won by Burgess sniping and slipping a few inside balls to Mitchell and Beale. Cross is looking very pedestrian so much so that Hickey must be sweating on Horne's return (?). On last night's form the Reds (if LInk gets the tactics right this time) would win the rematch but Rugby is a funny game...... At the end of the day I don't think the Tahs have the game to match the likes of the Crusaders (certainly), Stormers, Blues or Sharks (probably) whereas the Reds have. I think the Tahs will come crashing down (again) next week against the Blues and the Reds will take the Bulls next week then gain revenge over the Tahs at Suncorp in a fortnight.
Who Needs Melon
Guest
One of the best games I've seen Mitchell play. He was awesome. Very surprised at the result. Not who won but the manner of the win. It was almost like the Tahs knew they had these guys and the Force knew it too.
PeterK
Roar Guru
Give some credit. The Reds beat Force by 1 point at home. Tahs smashed the same team in Perth. They showed more running rugby than the Reds did winning ugly against the Stormers.
PeterK
Roar Guru
Bit of a sore loser. The tahs dominated, Mitchell and Beale were more than competent, it was how good they were that made JoC, Cummins and Shepherd miss so many tackles.
Cliff (Bishkek)
Guest
See what happens later this Month. Would not have called the REDS display in Week 2 - good - but the Tahs won. Where have they gone since?
Gary
Guest
A very dissapointing performance by the Force with a couple of notable exceptions. I thought Sam Wykes did very well considering the state of the team and receiving a very heavy knock in the second half. The forwards fired at times, even rolling the Tahs pack pack a good 10 to 15 metres in one maul. The backs on the other hand had a bad case of the dropsies. Cameron Shepherd had a very bad night ending with being carted off after being dumped on his head. For the Tahs Mitchell was the standout. He just continues to get better. Beale was good too. Given all the discussion here about him I watched Mumm all night and couldn't see anything that would put him on my radar if I was a Wallabies selector. The alleged dangerous tackle by David Smith happened right in front of me. None of those sitting near me thought it was dangerous and gave Assistant Referee Steve Walsh heaps about it. IMHO it certainly was not worth a yellow card. The Force's doctor was right on the spot and clearly was not impressed by Walsh's ruling on this either. So the Tahs got a win but it was more from the Force's failings than the Tahs competence. I don't think they are going to have it as easy against the best of the overseas teams.
Jagman
Guest
Yeah like in week 2 when the Tahs played that other australian team and beat them 5 tries to 0. They definitely need to prove themselves against quality opposition.
Cliff (Bishkek)
Guest
With the Tahs I would not be getting excited - for the Tah Supporters - let us see how they go against "Quality Opposition" - oh sorry that is what they were saying about the REDS. The Tahs do not excite me - they have a long way to go. Hickey & Waugh are their Achilles Heel
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
Force appeared disinterested and lacked the brutal go forward to win a Super Rugby game. Backs had the dropsies early further discouraging the forwards and thus continuing the self fulfilling prophecy. Blame the head doctors for not getting the Force up for this one. Everyone's raving about Burgess and we're all happy he's regaining confidence and form........except the 2 or 3 Tah's who were on the end of a couple of long, looping, floating hospital passes.
bennalong
Guest
The referees did not "miss the incident"........there was no dangerous play unless you call Shepherd's apparent leap into the air, dangerous. I doubt Ulugia knew what happened I grant the game is now getting ridiculous in terms of what's called dangerous but it should be an issue for acknowledgement when referees adjudicate in the spirit of the game and not, as is common now,' in the spirit of political correctness' The game itself was indeed a one-sided affair but this was largely because the Tahs returned to the early gameplan and used the width of the field to outflank the Forces usual excellent defence. The fact that the Force was missing not only Pocock but Hodgeson undoubtedly played a part. But the big Tahs forewards in fact played BIG again for the first time since their mentally dimishing game against the 'Saders and this was a real return to form. Having Big Cliffy back allowed TPN the luxury of not feeling the need to carry the ball so hard and so often so he just might make it through the season..........God willing