Coach preaches patience for Tahs

It was a terrific match between two good teams. The Chiefs fielded what must be close to the best Chiefs team ever in their Super history. I cannot remember a better one and they have been runners up in the past. But that team was soft up front. The two boys on the weekend wearing 1 and 3 may be soft, but they are so big that their bulk makes up for any padding they carry. It is hard for an Australian rugby supporter to comprehend what an extraordinary rugby nursery New Zealand is. If a Sydney based supporter could imagine extending the small pockets of rugby support around Edgecliff and Bellevue Hill, and the slither along the North Shore from Pittwater Road to Barker College to encompass a region say from Penrith to Cronulla they would get an idea of just what a pool of talent they can tap each year. So we were up against a strong Kiwi side, full of confidence, at home with a kiwi ref. I thought our performance was better than the week before, but this time we lost because we were up against a better team away from home. I thought it was the best we had played except for one Crusader game in four years. The result was closer than the scoreboard indicated, much closer. Their third try was dodgy and Alcock must have been a blade of grass short of scoring at the end of the first half. But the winner is not disputed. They were better. Better in three critical areas; confidence, composure and skill. No one can fault our game plan. At last the Waratahs are moving forward. But they are only two games into a magnificent adventure of playing modern, possession rugby. It is a pity it took four rounds to begin the journey. But let's not cry over spilt milk. We have at last begun and the team must be applauded and the coach encouraged wholeheartedly. Keep it up. It must come as a rude shock to the team that they are not as good at it as they may have thought or expected. If I take up with the matter of confidence, the first Chiefs try showed just how full of confidence they are. Just give them a sniff of possession off a poor kick from us, if my memory serves me correctly, and they were away. Bom 7 points. It takes time to develop it, but we just need belief and that will come from addressing the issues of composure and skill. There is a degree of helter skelter about us when we are hard on attack. We tend to get too excited and rushed. Passes get pushed, possession gets lost in tackles and passes miss targets. All of which leads to the final problem and the one at the heart of the other two. Our skills are wanting. Barnes is a very good player and a very skilful one, but his skills cracked under pressure. He can get there and must be supported because if he gains confidence and composure it will flow through the whole team. He will need no reminding that better kick-offs will be a helpful start. Another skill that must be promoted is winning tackles. We broke a number of tackles especially in the first half. But we also lost a lot of pill in tackles. Winning the tackle from the time just prior to contact to the point of transferring possession takes tremendous skill. But we have the players. They must be encouraged to get into the contact situation and win it. We have a tendency to avoid contact. It is very frustrating to watch. Again with encouragement and development they have the makings of great players and the Waratahs a great team. Finally, there is teamwork. We need to forge some combinations. You don't need many; just really good ones. For those mungos amongst us, think of the tries and breaks from simple plays between Cliff Lyons and Steve Menzies. Armed with the above they will be composed and confident to do to the opposition exactly what the Chiefs did to them on the weekend.

Dennis can cover lock as well. I'm in agreement except for 1 and 17. Unfortunately since neither of Robinson or Tilse covers tighthead it is very hard to play them together. An injury to Kepu would mean uncontested or Ulugia going to tighthead. At least with Ryan you can move Kepu to loosehead and stay reasonable. Ultimately I think Robinson needs to be dropped and forced to play his way back in. I'd give him a two week break (this weekend's bye and the Force game when they come back in order to overcome any niggles and to lift his cardio work). I'd leave Ryan on the bench and start Tilse. Depending how Tilse goes we can re-assess our front row options.

I'm still recovering from that flogging so not firing on all 4 cylinders. However is it my imagination or did we actually manage to reduce our penalty count? I recall one silly incident with TPN going for the ball with his hands in a maul (right in front of the Ref) but got to give him some lee way. Other than that though I'm thinking we may have improved in that area. Got to look for the positives where you can find them chaps. ;) The not so good news - I thought Barnsey had an average day. Defensively maybe not too bad but his passing seemed all over the shop. I'll never really understand the point of cut out passes where the player has to slow down, reach up, bend down, reach behind or where ever else to catch them. I'd prefer through the hands with the line advancing rather than from one side of the park to the other with no ground gained. I'm still trying to work out if that kick by Barnes to Robbo on the wing was intended or if Barnes needs to get along to OPSM. :(

totally agree. with Elsom back after the break my forwards would be 01 Robinson 02 TPN 03 Kepu 04 S.Timani 05 Douglas 06 L.Timani 07 Alcock 08 Palu 16 Ulugia 17 Tilse (Paddy Ryan has been a realy liability every time, scrum goes backwards and he gives penalties away). 18 Elsom 19 Dennis NO ROOM for Mumm anywhere. When Palu comes off (it should be at 60 min not 45 min thanks) L.Timani to 8 and Elsom to 6. Elsom is also sufficient cover for locks.

that is my assumption as well DK - unless he is talking about creating so many chances that our only try came of a chargedown?

Can anyone explain to me how Mumm keeps his spot? He los tthe ball and got held up (maul, turnover) with us on heavy attack. He's a liability. We need more hard runners like Cliffy and Taf. Surely Timani has to come in now.

Sick of bloody patience - I am bored watching the Tahs show patience and a predominance of 1995 hold possession rugby whilst the opposition sets off from it's own 22 for our tryline.

Benne - I can't believe the Tahs are still building big boys in the backs. I thought this was put away never to be touched again after McKenzie. Fat boys can't run end of bloody story. Agree re field training, they need someone like a league coach to come in and have them running and passing until they get it then running lines with fast passing.

He confuses you because he meant the Chiefs not the Higlanders.

The first half of the match was fine but with the Chiefs relying on breakaway tries,( which they are very good at,) My concern is the fall off in the second and I'd observe that the team seems to spend a lot of time pumping iron. It is my belief that weights can reduce speed and flexibility which in most positions in rugby are superior qualities. I further believe that the pre-season injury rate is at least partially attributable to weights which build up slow- twitch fibres which impair the function of fast twitch fibres and respond differently to running The best way to train for rugby is on the field.......... running and passing at speed. This is surely stating the bleeding obvious because it improves reflexes and hand to eye at the same time. And it's not as though those skills are at the level you'd like to see Does anyone know the breakdown of the Tahs training? Lotte Tuquiri was played as a bash'm up big boy by the Tahs. After returning to league he reduced weights training and regained his speed scoring in the corner in his first game

I would like to see Rob Horne at 12 and AAC at 13. Horne has more penetration than Carter, deals with front on tackles better than against the fleet footed outside backs where he has been found wanting. My respect for AAC is well documented. He alongside Kingston are the only consistent performers in the team. He fights for every bit of yardage and looks for work for 80mins. I think he needs to be closer in at 13 where, on song, he's up there with the best in the world. I just think Carter and Horne are too similar. I know there are those who think AAC is a similar bash-it-up style centre but there is much more to his game. As I write this though I do think they'd miss him under the highball... Alright I dunno... I'd just love to see this team click consistently.

I was pleased with the way NSW played the first half. However it must be said that when the chiefs had the ball they looked far more threatening than we did. Their passes were crisp and they ran super hard. They always looked dangerous, whilst our guys were certainly trying but still looked hesitant. I don't know whether our defense was poor, or the attack of the chiefs too good. On the plus side, Kane Douglas is running well. Alcock continues to impress. Cliffy was magnificent. Dennis worked hard. I would start Sitaleki Tomani over Mumm, to partner Douglas. I'm a massive fan of Rob Horne, but his positional play and tackling aren't good. I'm hoping he gets back to his best with more rugby under his belt. Go Tahs!

Adrian, your article confuses me - (Against the Highlanders, NSW created several scoring chances, but blew most of them through mistakes and impatience. “We had possession for long periods of time and forced them to make a lot of tackles, but we weren’t ticking the scoreboard over,” Foley said.) I disagree with your comment about NSW creating scoring chances against the Highlanders. In that game they kicked the ball away at every opportunity. If you've mixed your matches up and your and Foley's comments refer to this weekend's game against the Chiefs then they make a lot more sense. There were definitely opportunities and more positive play this weekend. If patience is code for an inability to put the ball in front of the man and an over reliance on cut passes that allowed the defence to drift to the wide men then I'd agree with Foley. That wide spreading without forwards being out there in support meant that the smaller/quicker Chiefs pack gained advantage as the match progressed. The loss of the go forward play of Palu in particular and TPN meant the Tahs were not earning the right to go wide before they spread it. I agree not a million miles away from playing well but the insistence that S. Timani start on the bench and Mumm playing 80 minutes have me concerned. Also who are the six? Elsom, Vickerman, Mitchell, Turner, McCutcheon are five - is the sixth Pakalani? I thought I had heard he was due back soon.