Whitewash at Port Elizabeth puts Tahs on a high

After a disappointing loss last week against the Bulls, the Waratahs were keen to end their two-week South African tour with a win.

Waratahs fans weren’t disappointed; a dazzling performance was put on, as the Tahs used their pace, free flowing attack and strong defence to hammer the Kings 72 to 10.

The Kings, a new team to the Super Rugby Championship, has become a bogey side for the Australian conference drawing with the Brumbies and beating the Rebels and the Force.

But they couldn’t stop the Waratahs, who proved their strength and willingness to run when they ran in 11 tries for their first win in South Africa for four years.

“That was probably the performance we were looking for most of the year,” Waratahs’ captain Dave Dennis told SuperSport after the match.

The Tahs took to the field hungry for a win and within 19 minutes had scored their four-try bonus point, with their first coming off a Folau break in midfield ending with Cam Crawford crossing the line in the opening minute of the game.

The Tahs continued with their attacking theme throughout the first half, pushing the ball wide and running it downfield with Peter Betham, Cam Crawford and Israel Folau finding countless gaps in the Kings defence.

By the end of the first half the Tahs had scored seven tries with Folau, Betham, Kane Douglas and Michael Hooper crossing the line as well as Cam Crawford crossing three times for his hat-trick, as the South African commentators said, “it’s beginning to look more and more like a cricket score”.

The Kings couldn’t be kept pointless however, as the Tahs gave away penalties close to the line which the Kings converted at the 17minute mark to bring the score 22 to 3.

A converted try at the closing of the first half from an intercept saw Kings winger Sergeal Petersen, saw the score at 46 to 10 at the end of the half.

The Tahs downfield attack continued in the second half with captain Dave Dennis crossing the line six minutes into the half for the sides eighth try.

A great break from Folau downfield and a fantastic offload from Betham saw their captain crash over the line. Betham followed on five minutes later after receiving the perfect inside pass from an Adam Ashley-Cooper break, to see him under the posts with a conversion to push the score 58 to 10.

With 20-minutes left in the match, four replacements were brought onto the field and with 10-minutes to go the bench was emptied as all the replacements took to the field.

Replacement Volavola soon crossed the line for the sides tenth try after being threaded through a gap by a McKibben pass, with Matt Lucas converting for his first Super Rugby points making the score 65 to 10.

Tom Kingston crossed for the line only minutes later, receiving an offload from another Folau break and running away for the line. The conversion form Matt Lucas brought the end score 72 to 10.

After a fantastic match, the Waratahs have proved they are a great attacking side, with a flowing backline and a strong forward pack.

However, the side needs to prove that they can play this style when the take the field against next weeks rivals the Stormers or the Brumbies in the following week. Only time will tell if the Tahs can make a resurgence at the back end of the Super Rugby season.