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Injuries are one of the more frustrating parts of playing professional sport, but they do provide a silver lining.
Sitting on the sideline provides a different perspective of the game, allowing you to take in more of the big picture and really soak up the atmosphere. Even for someone like me – I’m a bit of an emotional and nervous watcher – it does let you provide some advice to the boys after games, to help them pick up on things they’re probably too in the moment to really notice during play.
With Buckley’s chance of playing this round, that’s something I’ll be doing for another match, although with the bye coming up, I should be back on the field for our next game against the Brumbies.
This week, though, we’re up against the Rebels, who are the premiere Australian rugby side at the moment.
You look at their team, and there are threats right across the field – the danger isn’t limited to any one position or group of players. They’ve got an exceptionally strong forward pack, and their outside backs – guys like Dane Haylett-Petty and Marika Koroibete in particular – are always getting touches, always coming in and looking for opportunities rather than waiting for the ball out on the wing.
Identifying an area of weakness is tricky, but one worth mentioning is that they’re such a new team, having just been thrown together this year. While they’ve had the pick of the crop from two Super Rugby teams, combining two cultures is something that would’ve been a huge undertaking.
From a personal perspective, it would be great to chat to a few boys about how they’ve done that, because they’ve obviously done it in an effective way to be able to play some great footy so soon.
The key against that side will be stopping them from breaking over the advantage line. Our boys will need to aim up and make sure all the big collisions occur behind the ad-line. Winning that part of the contest should flow on to some turnover ball, and ideally provide a significant advantage in the long-term arm-wrestle of the match.
Our forwards need to be able to aim up in that area, but while there’s no bigger challenge for them this weekend, we have absolute confidence they’ll be able to do that job – just look at the way our young pack stood up in Round 1. There’s nothing like playing in front of a home crowd against a team that’s keen to get the win over us, and if our forwards get that underdog status in their mind, they’ll be able to play well.
Now, we can’t talk about this game without mentioning the last, where we obviously had a really poor start against the Jaguares.
The key to avoiding that this week is confidence; staying focused on the task at hand, and knowing we have the ability to play our game well and get the desired result.
There’s no point in looking too far into the future and worrying about the number of wins and losses. The boys need to make sure we’re focused completely on this weekend, and if they can, the results will speak for themselves.
We’ve just got to make sure our boys have the confidence to bounce back against a few lucky breaks for the opposition and move forward.
This side is certainly capable of that – I couldn’t have more confidence in the boys’ ability to score points and defend well in areas of the game. We’ll just make sure that we’re aiming up this weekend, tenfold.
There’s no better footy than a Sunday arvo game and the boys are hurting after last weekend, so you know they’re going to stand up this match.
The Waratahs will go up against the undefeated Melbourne Rebels this weekend in what promises to be a blockbuster of a Super Rugby encounter, so be sure to grab a NSW Waratahs membership and get down to Allianz Stadium to enjoy all the Sunday afternoon action.
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.