The Waratahs minus Israel Folau face a true test of their Super Rugby credentials as they take on a Sharks outfit coming off a bruising encounter against the Bulls last week.
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NSW continued their good start to the season last week with a comfortable 32-8 bonus point victory over the Rebels at home.
The victory however was soured by a throat injury to star fullback Israel Folau who will miss today’s match against the Sharks.
Folau’s absence today is significant to say the least. He is the player that provides the Waratahs with the X-factor in attack and without him, NSW may struggle to score enough points to keep the Sharks at bay.
The Waratahs record in South Africa is poor to say the least given that they have lost seven of their past eight matches playing in Springboks territory.
The Sharks however are not without concerns of their own. First choice halves pairing Pat Lambie and Cobus Reinach each suffered serious injuries against the Bulls last week meaning that the Sharks will have to search for a new halves pairing to guide their attack.
With key attacking players missing on both sides, today’s contest could end up being a low scoring and tight affair.
With Folau missing for the Waratahs, Kurtley Beale is going to have to rise to the occasion if NSW are a hope of asking questions of the Sharks defence.
Overall, today’s contest is a real litmus test for the Waratahs away from home. They are yet to travel outside of Australia this season and a win in South Africa against a Super Rugby heavyweight will go a long way to ensuring that they are a genuine championship contender.
While Folau’s absence is a big blow, the Waratahs still possess enough class in their roster to perhaps snatch a vital win.
Waratahs by 5.
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Magic Sponge
Guest
White is definitely the best coach in the world, no doubt about it.
Firstxv
Guest
Ivan when Smith and Henry took the AB's in 04 they were in huge disarray after the Mitchell tyranny. From thre they forged the most consistent era ever. When he took over the Saders in 97 he took them to titles in 98/99 where they were 6th and 12th in 96/97. When he and Rennie took the chiefs to back to back titles in 12 and 13 they were 10th and 11th in 2010, 2011. No one was saying those sides had the best players in the world before Smith took over.
Firstxv
Guest
"Tahs only look good against aussie teams....at home"...there...corrected that for you.
IvanN
Roar Guru
Common Sense, this is true about Smith - but he did have the best players on the planet to work with. White took a team of nobody's at the Brumbies and almost took the title, from nothing. He took the Boks in 2004 - who were a disgrace from 2000-2003, and turned them into champions. Hes doing a similar job at the Sharks, if you havent noticed the scorelines they are winning by, with a few springboks, Id say the man is pretty good - but theres no way to say who is the best, unless someone comes along and makes a team like Georgia win the IRB World cup...
Chopper1
Guest
We have John Mitchell, David campese, john plumtree (before he went to be Ireland's Fwd coach), mark sharkie robinson, Carlos spencer, we had Eddie jones in the year before winning the RWC 2007, Laurie mains for a few years and Matt sexton living here. Aussies and kiwis - they are treated like royalty, coach, commentate and get involved in developing the sport. We welcome them. They seem to dig it here. You figure out which of the three sanzar countries will benefit more in the long term with a potential rugby player population that is growing from the couple of million under the old regime pre 1994, and the full 53 million population who love the sport and more so each day, but have only started playing and having the opportunity to play in the past ten years.
Common Sense
Guest
Agreed. They ran good lines, took and received some massive hits. They ran foul of the referee though. Sort that stuff out and they'll be a much better side.
Paul
Guest
the score suggest it was more than just dropping the ball
Specks
Guest
I have to say, they still looked good... just dropped the ball... a lot!
sam
Guest
Haha. Are the tahs still favourites? Wonder what Spiro will dish up this time. Tahs only look good against aussie teams.
Common Sense
Guest
What bile? I disagree with your view and gave you reasons why. Don't dismiss others for disagreeing with you then resort to smearing. The Boks won, the Brumbies didn't win anything and the Sharks haven't won anything yet. Under Smith the Crusaders won, All Blacks won, Chiefs won. If anyone asked Rennie or Henry then they'd direct the applause for their success to Smith. Another coach worth looking at could be Graham Henry. Under Henry the Auckland provincial side won, the Blues won and the All Blacks won. Clive Woodward did a lot for his teams, maybe it could be him (I doubt it though). White is a very good coach and he rates highly but best coach in the world is pushing it a bit far. Also, lest we forget in Super Rugby he has only achieved a lone runners up medal. For his second year that's pretty good, but there are other coaches with better records in only two years.
Charging Rhino
Guest
You're welcome. Yes it's nice to see the stadiums on the fuller side rather than not. For a 50,000 seater it's not too shabby. Winning helps. Brisbane saw that in 2011 too. And yes the filming is done from the main grandstand in all the SA stadiums I think, which is usually the far fuller side. In Durban it traditionally had to do with sun in the eyes for games played at 3pm. It faces east so the afternoon sun was always behind the main grandstand whereas the "newer" one (built for 1995 World Cup) faces west and if a game is played at 3pm then those guys get hot and have sun obstructing their view!!! Lol
maxxlord
Roar Rookie
Boks win. Brumbies win. Sharks win. Thats enough for me, you can stew in your bile all you want.
Specks
Guest
I think we missed alofa almost as much as folau... i was veery disappointed not to see him out there. I think chieka will learn from this, agree he got schooled by white today..
Campbell Watts
Guest
Force top of the Aussie conference by the end of the weekend???? Oh yeah!!!
Specks
Guest
I have to admit i didn't pete, i do feel that aussie sides in general don't tend to play to the ref very well. The ref this match has been a little more even handed, although the yellow was soft, but it was Dennis, and he had been warned off the niggle. By all accounts we had a better chance than the reds had last week. let ourselves down really.
Common Sense
Guest
Hahaha the look on bismarcks face after he finally got his words out was like, ' Yep, nailed it,'
Batdown
Guest
Thank you for the posts Alan, not the Tahs game today but at least there is plenty of room for improvement.
Common Sense
Guest
There are 7 coaches with at least the same record or better than white. If it comes down to making champions out of perennial chumps then Wayne Smith gets my vote.
AdamS
Roar Guru
Good news for anyone who played the Dave Dennis Designated Driver Drinking Dare (tm) Not only can you drive home, but you could drive a bus load of school kids...... 2 drinks in 2 hours.
Campbell Watts
Guest
Amen!!!!!