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Befuddlement. It’s a funny word. One of those words that sounds funnier the more times you say it. But it’s one that aptly sums up the mindset and the decision making of the Waratahs in 2016.
It was on display again last night when the Tahs went down to the Blues with a bonus-point loss on a soggy Eden Park.
The result has left them with the forlorn hope that the basket-case Force will reverse a season’s worth of shocking form to beat the hitherto table-topping Brumbies and deny them a losing bonus point in the process tomorrow night.
That’s the only and highly unlikely scenario that will see the Tahs scrape through to the playoffs.
Stranger things have happened, but I’m going to go out on a massive limb here and suggest it’s a scenario this ain’t going to play out and NSW are finished for this year.
And it was largely muddled thinking that cost them a chance to beat the Blues and heap a whole lot more pressure the way of the Brumbies.
The best thing that could have happened for the Tahs was obviously a bonus-point win. This would have required the Brumbies to win with lots of tries tomorrow to ensure they advanced.
But instead of trying to settle for the next best thing – a win with no bonus point, the Tahs ended up with the worst thing – a loss, by not taking every point on offer.
A chance of scoring three more tries than a growingly rampant Blues outfit was always going to be slim, especially so when the heavens opened in the lead up to the game to grease up the Eden Park surface. Despite the conditions you’ve got to go for it, I get that.
And things looked promising when Tahs loosehead Paddy Ryan popped Blues’ tighthead Ofa Tu’ungafasi for three scrums in a row close to the Blues line to win his team a penalty try after 22 minutes.
From the resulting kick off a Nick Phipps special – a pass to absolutely nobody – immediately put his team back under pressure and sure enough, two minutes later big Blues lock Patrick Tuipulotu crashed over in the corner for a quick reply.
This was to set the pattern for the night. In a remarkable stat, every time the Tahs scored each of their four tries the Blues responded with one of their own less than three minutes later.
The only break in this pattern was when the Blues were awarded a penalty try for a collapsed maul close to the line four minutes after their own first try.
At this point, 30 minutes into the game, it should have been bleeding obvious to the visitors, dominant scrum and all, that they were never going to jump three tries clear of their hosts.
So they needed to bin this quest and ensure the win with Bernard Foley banking every point on offer.
Yet they didn’t. Kickable penalty after kickable penalty was spurned as the Tahs went for the five pointers. Sure they were smashing it in the scrum, which netted them a second penalty try five minutes after the resumption.
However, if only they’d kicked the points on offer they would still have been able to exert scrum pressure, but from a position of leading, not trailing on the scoreboard.
As it was the scrums evened up considerably anyway when Charlie Faumuina replaced Tu’ungafasi immediately after the second penalty try was conceded.
Clearly the freshly minted All Black prop has a lot of work to do on his core role before he sees another black jersey.
And I still can’t quite work out how the Tahs failed to score in the shadow of halftime when Israel Folau looked to have busted through only to be held up, before bobbling an attempted pass to an unmarked Matt Carraro.
In the end the Tahs left themselves way too much to do against the Blues who grew more potent on attack as the game wore on, despite being on the wrong end of the territory and possession stats.
Questions must be asked of the decision-making ability of skipper Michael Hooper. Brilliantly dynamic player that he is, time and again this season he has made the wrong call in the heat of the battle which has cost his side dearly.
Is it time to hand the captaincy to a bloke who has a much better line of sight on what’s unfolding and isn’t running around like a blue-arsed fly for 80 minuted? Is Foley the better option?
On the other side Blues fans must already be salivating in anticipation for next season. They rounded out 2016 with consecutive wins against the top two Aussie sides in a resurgence that suggests coach Tana Umaga is beginning to reap what he has sowed in his debut year in charge.
Up front skipper Jerome Kaino is back to his brutish best as the hardest shouldered forward in world rugby while Steven Luatua is showing the sort of form that had him bolting into the All Blacks three years ago.
Ihaia West is looking a more and more accomplished general, while outside him Piers Francis has been the surprise package of the year to become the Blues version of Ryan Crotty, with the added bonus of reliable goal kicking.
Francis capped off a storming game when he zigged when the defences zagged for a great try last night. Melani Nanai is a strike weapon at fullback while George Moala returned from injury looking like he’d lost none of the eye-popping form exhibited for the All Blacks in the third Test agains the Welsh, scoring the Blues final try. And to think they’ve got Rene Ranger and a bloke by the name of Sonny Bill Williams to come in 2017. That’s just scary.
For the Tahs, well they’ve (in all probability) got a few months to rue what could have been and get some clarity into their thinking.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.