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“We just played dumb footy, and the result shows that”. The parting words of Waratahs skipper Phil Waugh into retirement after losing 26-13 to the Blues at a soggy Eden Park last night.
Dumb from the Waratahs, smart by the Blues.
The locals must wait until tonight’s result between the Crusaders and Sharks at Nelson to see where they play their Super 15 semi next weekend – Suncorp to meet the front-running Reds if the Crusaders win, Cape Town for a tilt at the Stormers if the Sharks are successful.
But it’s all over for the Waratahs.
Sure the Waratahs were a depleted lot with 12 frontline players injured, eight of them Wallabies. And they lost three more during last night.
But warrior Waugh never made that excuse. He knew what happened, it was deep-etched on his face.
Waugh and the always alert Kurtley Beale apart, it seemed like a blanket covering the team, with the thought in the back of their minds: “We’ve been decimated by injuries all year with a record 38 players on duty, so we’re lucky to reach the play-offs, we’ve only won once at Eden Park in 80 years, and no Australian team has ever won a sudden-death Super game overseas, so the rugby gods are agin us even before we kick off. Stuff it, we can’t win tonight”.
And stuff it they did in the second half. Big time.
The Waratahs didn’t tank it. Far from it, they tried their hearts out.
Their discipline failed by giving away nine penalties to five – five of them kickable – they forgot to catch the ball, failed to find support with decent passes, forgot to retain it, and failed to make the right options, consistently kicking away possession when it was as scarce as hen’s teeth.
Dumb footy alright.
Elementary, my dear Watson.
It’s a pity accurate stats aren’t readily available for just the second half last night.
With the Blues leading 13-8, the Waratahs were very much in it under normal circumstances when possession hovers around the 50% mark.
But these weren’t normal circumstances.
The Blues “owned” the ball. There wouldn’t be much change out of 80% possession for the Blues, probably higher, territory-wise.
That says volumes for the Waratahs’ defence, restricting the Blues to 26 points. But no team can win without the ball.
Sure Lachie Turner scored a token Waratah try 33 minutes into the second half when a couple of passes actually stuck. But it was the exception, certainly not the rule.
The rest of the half was a combination of desperate Waratah defence and dropped ball, for game, set, and match.
But amongst the wreckage, Phil Waugh deserves a special salute. He’s been a tower of strength for 13 seasons with the Waratahs to become the most capped player. And most capped captain.
The 31 year-old didn’t deserve to end his stellar career of 79 Test and 136 Waratah caps on a dumb note.