If the Waratahs do go on and claim a back-to-back Super Rugby titles this season, they may well look back to the dual wins in Rounds 11 and 12 as major turning points in their success.
The two-point win over the Melbourne Rebels last weekend, followed by the three-point win over the Brumbies on Friday night were both about as far removed from the ball-in-hand “identity” that Michael Cheika has drilled into the team since the day he arrived.
However, both wins were important, because the Waratahs have been learning the hard way that their Super Rugby opponents have schooled up on them in off-season, and that what worked in 2014 is certainly not guaranteed to work in 2015.
It’s been that way since Round 1. Sides have worked out that if they can slow down the Waratahs’ ball, you can absolutely halt their momentum. Bernard Foley has been marked even more closely this season than he was on the Spring Tour, as opposition defences have looked to cut off the attacking ball at the source.
It has meant that the Waratahs have had to tweak their game on the run, and fortunately, they’ve been able to find quick success in the aspects of their game that they’ve tinkered with.
The obvious improvement is at set piece, where they’ve turned a questionable scrum last season into one of – if not – the best eight-man scrums in the competition.
And their lineout has improved too, mainly on account of a fully healthy Dave Dennis calling the shots. Take the main man out of any team’s lineout and there will be degradation, as we saw last season after Dennis did his knee.
The lineout was expected to be a Brumbies strength on Friday night – and they still only lost one on their own throw – but the Waratahs chalked up numerous points victories by contesting most if not all Brumbies’ throw-ins.
Certainly, they discovered that the best way to defend the Brumbies’ maul was to disrupt the ball in the lineout first. I can think of at least two occasions – and there may have been more – where David Pocock stationed at the back of the lineout had to throw a pass out wide, all because he had to go and chase the disrupted ball from the lineout. By the time he secured the ball again, he was away from teammates to bind onto, and thus the pass became the only option.
The Waratahs’ scrum was well on top all night, and certainly showed no signs of concern when it wasn’t their feed. Again, at least twice a reset had to be ordered because the height and pressure from the ‘Tahs meant that Stephen Moore wasn’t able to hook properly.
On the occasions where the ball did come out, Nick Phipps was all over rookie opposite, Michael Dowsett, like the proverbial fat kid on a cupcake. This isn’t new from Phipps, but he certainly took it to another level against an inexperienced opponent. And sure, he pushed the offside envelope regularly, but why wouldn’t you when you have a referee allowing more ball to be played from collapsed scrums than any I can remember this season.
And that’s not a criticism of Glenn Jackson, either. Goodness knows there’s been more than enough of that in the days since. For what it’s worth, I thought Jackson let what he knew would be a grinding game flow well. He knew both teams would be hard at the ball, and so he gave the attacking side some latitude to maintain possession, so that game could move on.
That meant that some forward passes and even a few sneaky knock-ons were missed along the way. If Jackson had blown the whistle for everything he could have on Friday night, we’d be bemoaning a pedantic referee who ‘thinks the game is about him’.
There was some latitude for the defending sides, too, though. The line speed of both defensive lines was quick from the first whistle and never let up. Both sides flirted with – and in some cases outright ignored – the offside line at the ruck.
And this is where I think we’ve seen the most recent evolution in the Waratahs. They were very patient and focussed in defence last week against the Rebels, but in Canberra the Waratahs worked out that patience in defence wasn’t going to be enough. They had to do more to say on top of the Brumbies.
This meant that they kicked more in this game than in any other this season. It meant they had to play a little deeper in attack so that they could still meet the rushing Brumbies defence with some kind of momentum.
And it meant that when the situation dictated, they had to – gasp! – play as cynically as every other team in the competition. So we saw hands on the opposition ball on the deck. We saw players hitting rucks and mauls from liberal angles of entry. We saw penalties being milked, highlighted no better than Phipps rifling a pass into Ita Vaea on the ground at his nine o’clock, when his backline was set out near half past seven.
Will Skelton had an enormous game – probably his best this year – and threw his considerable bulk around with devastating regularity. But just watch his angle of entry at times. Benn Robinson won the plaudits for winning the 80th minute penalty that sealed the game, but Skelton provided the sealing-off assist through the side window.
Again, this is not a criticism of the Waratahs. They established the boundaries on the night, and played to them accordingly. Why wouldn’t they?
And this will undoubtedly come in handy later in the season. By their own admission, the ‘Tahs are still yet to put together a proper 80-minute performance this year, and so they are forcing themselves to find wins through other means. Pragmatism wins games, too, it turns out.
RobC
Roar Guru
Hi Harry, how are you mate. Whiteley missed four tackles this season. Some players Do that for a game. many do that in two or three games.
Harry Jones
Expert
RobC, glad you pointed that out. I'm always wary of criticising high-count tacklers for missed tackles, because a livewire like Hooper gets closer to many ball carriers that almost any other forward bc of his speed, and so if he "misses" a tackle but it forces the gainline back and someone else, like JackPot completes the tackle, it's still a positive. But just comparing Hooper to another fast loose forward who goes looking for work on or past the gainline, Warren Whiteley is illustrative: Whiteley: Attempts 163 Tackles 159 Success rate: 97.5% Hooper: Attempts 137 Tackles 121 Success rate: 88.3% That's significant at this level, but maybe it's more a reflection of Whiteley's superb technique than a knock on Hooper.
RobC
Roar Guru
Was reviewing the numbers for the games this weekend. Noticed Hooper is amongst the top tackle missers in the comp. The two other Tahs are Beale and Phipps. The other Aussies are Sam Carter and Toby Smith. The difference with Hoops is he's also the 4th highest tackler in the comp. He's missing because he's making a lot. However, most of the other top tacklers do not feature in the top missers (all except Torsen from Cheetahs). Something Hoops has to tidy up, a bit.
bennalong
Guest
Jeznez Can you enlarge on that ranking of Ben Robinson. I don't mean to be sceptical but Sio has been out, Slipper has been out of form and Fatcat has been at the front of some of the most high powered scrums this season I think he's also been on the end of quite a few dubious penalties against him. I think Slipper will probably still deserve the nod but I disagree with you on current form
Phantom
Roar Rookie
Just where are they on the ladder again? Thats right 6th and having had a couple of very very lucky wins. Big call but then again what do I know
Chop
Roar Guru
Does Cooper really deserve a place? I certainly haven't watched every reds game this season but I haven't seen anything that would make me think he'd be in front of Lealii’fano, Toomua or Foley.
Mike
Guest
What rational grounds are there for thinking Robinson will be worse than Sio? And I do mean rational. I have not so far seen that he is any better at scrummaging that Slipper or Robinson. He frequently gets injured and has failed to make any significant impression at test level. He has never started a test and never played more than 15 minutes against the top teams. Robinson has vast experience with many test successes to his credit, and is scrumming better than anyone in Australia at present. There is simply no reason why Sio should even be considered for test selection at present. (And throwing in Alexander as tighthead prop - what relevance does that have to a comparison between looseheads?)
Daveski
Guest
Brett acknowledged last week most or all of the brumbies maul tries had illegalities about them. I think he's got the right and credibility to highlight a couple of key Tahs plays that were equally grey or on the wrong side of... But I agree with someone else, Brett can be both a pro writer and a fan of a particular team. I want to read stuff from someone who is intelligent, articulate AND a fan of the game. And to be a fan of the game you need to have some sort of loyalty / preference to a particular team. So the real villain here is the roar moderator who decided Brett is a professional writer and therefore NOT a fan. Anyway Brett - keep up the good work and I appreciate you are about the only writer who responds to posts even Johnno's !!
Rugby Tragic
Guest
Allanthus... did you realise your missus reads this site! ..lol
Taylorman
Guest
Geez what sort of logic is that? Tahs also got beaten twice, the Brumbies once, one of em by the competition cellar dweller and worst side in the comp, their only win in fact. U skew a selective set of results to make a point as mellow as that? Geez. Why would you waste your time doing that? You need a break Peterk.
Jameswm
Guest
Some even-handed and genuine comments at last. Best and most objective post I've read for months.
Jameswm
Guest
This comment? Seriously? In any case, can't you be a professional writer AND a Brumby fan?
Jameswm
Guest
You're from Qld? You've hid that well. I can understand why...
Jameswm
Guest
Every point? I've done it what, once? It's a bit transparent when a Brumby supporter writes an article accusing the Tahs of cynical play, in the game the Tahs beat his Brums. Yet no articles on the Brumbies for cynical play. You can stick up for your co-author Patrick, but surely you can see this.
Jameswm
Guest
Sure, but without getting defensive or rolling his eyes, as if any criticism deserves ridicule. These articles are written to get responses, so authors do need thickish skin. All responses won't be positive.
Alex Wood
Roar Guru
Brett, this is a fantastic article, one of the best I have read all year, and picks out some interesting points about the Waratahs play that I hadn't seen myself or reported on elsewhere. Cheers for putting it together, really good read.
Handles
Roar Guru
Tah Weak, very weak... Fixed it for you!
PeterK
Roar Guru
The brumbies do have a real issue winning close games. They seem very soft mentally, they lack that edge, that killer instinct. They have lost by 2 to the Chiefs and Blues. They have lost by 3 to the Waratahs They have lost by 5 to the Rebels Their 1 close win was by 5 against the Rebels. Compared to the tahs who have won 3 close ones and lost 1 close one. Losing the close ones has hurt the brumbies more than anything else.
AlsBoyce
Roar Guru
The Force had very little defence against the Blues, and were killed. A real bad one for them. Expect them to really put in this week after that embarrassment. The Tahs may find themselves toughing it out again.
AlsBoyce
Roar Guru
Interesting bit about the Brumbies showing no respect to the Waratahs, because that is their achilles heel in these matches. The Brumbies whip themselves up into a lather pre-match and convince themselves that the Tahs aren't any really that good and can't match them when the chips are down.