The NSW Waratahs have restored some national pride with a hoodoo-busting 41-12 Super Rugby win over an undermanned Highlanders outfit in Sydney.
The victory snapped an embarrassing run of 40-straight defeats for Australian teams against New Zealand opposition in Super Rugby, a drought stretching six days shy of two years since the Waratahs beat the Chiefs 45-25 in 2016.
The Waratahs had since lost their past nine matches against Kiwi rivals, blowing a 29-0 lead against the Crusaders last week in Christchurch to suffer the biggest collapse in the competition’s 22-year history.
But an air of inevitability hung over Saturday night’s match at Allianz Stadium, as soon as the Highlanders had winger Tevita Nabura sent off in the 19th minute for a shocking studs-to-the-head strike on his NSW opposite Cam Clark.
After leaping to collect a Waratahs high ball, Nabura lashed his right boot almost karate-style while mid-air into Clark’s face.
Television match official George Ayoub declared “deliberate action by the player in the air to put his foot in front of him” and suggested New Zealand referee Brendon Pickerill issue the red card.
Already trailing 8-0 after an early penalty goal to Bernard Foley and a 15th-minute five-pointer to powerhouse winger Taqele Naiyaravoro, the last thing the Highlanders needed was another player sent to the sheds.
But that’s exactly what happened, with All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith yellow carded for a deliberate knockdown, leaving the visitors with only 13 players on the park for 10 minutes.
The Waratahs took advantage with Naiyaravoro bagging his second try of the night – and 10th for the season – to send the home team to halftime with a 15-0 buffer.
A second-half double to star fullback Israel Folau, and further tries to Curtis Rona and Lalakai Foketi, iced the win and secured the Waratahs a bonus point to send the Australian conference leaders six competition points clear of the chasing Melbourne Rebels.
Folau’s brace brought up his 49th and 50th tries in Super Rugby, the dual international becoming the third-fastest player to reach the half-century milestone, taking just 83 games to accomplish the feat.
Waratahs captain Michael Hooper admitted he’d grown tired of talking about Australia’s humbling losing streak and was relieved his side had broken the curse.
“If you’d asked me before the game, I wouldn’t have said anything about it. Now it doesn’t matter,” Hooper said.
“But it’s frustrating to hear that all the time and it was the last thing we were thinking about. We got a good result there tonight.
“I’m really happy with our boys’ performance to stick and hold them to not many points.
“Pleased with our game managers there. We were able to pick out their weaknesses.
“I’m proud of the boys.”
Highlanders skipper Ben Smith was gracious in defeat, saying the Waratahs “thoroughly deserved their win”.
“The Waratahs played some great rugby tonight and really put us under pressure,” he said.
“At times, we made tough work of it. But we’re a pretty tight-knit unit so we’ll take the learnings and be better next week.”
The Waratahs face the Chiefs next week in Hamilton, no doubt with renewed belief they can challenge for a second title in four years.
ThugbyFan
Roar Guru
RTT; Don’t listen to them Visigoths below! We Tahs fans know what its like to lie in the sun, feeling the warmth of winning against kiwi sides, trophies and gold jerseys. Meanwhile we have to listen to the tirades of those uber-jealous supporters of the Reds (typical Queensland – Great one day, Easybeats the next), Brumbies (feral beasts from yesteryear that should be sent to the knackery) and Forced Rebels (Mexicans – listen to what D.Trump says of them). We just close our ears and keep winning. :)
ThugbyFan
Guest
G'day Dig, what a weekend? Three kiwi teams lost and another was pushed all the way (on the scoreboard) by an Aussie side. Can it get any better than that? Sure can, 5 kiwi teams to lose. LoL Long may it continue! To be honest I think most fair-minded kiwis were getting bored with knowing their team just had to get off the bus to flog the Aussie opposition. Its always a better game to watch with some fear and trepidation, the other side pushing your team but hopefully your mob gets up in the last 10 minutes. :)
ThugbyFan
Guest
Ken's Leg; this weekend Ben O'Keefe reffed the Hurricane's game against the Reds. He was completely different this week and listened to both captains. Sure people are banging on about TJ's gusto in his plea to the referee to change his decision(and tbf he changed to the correct decision), but O'Keefe also heard out and explained things to captain Higgenbothem, an improvement on his attitude to the opposition the previous week. I suspect that O'Keefe got a very large rocket up the backside from the coach reports on the game and the SANZAAR referee appointments board, not on what he missed in play (we are ALL human and miss things) but his refusal to give any respect to the Tah's captain querying of his decisions. It was the TMO of the Crusaders vs Tahs game that got the chop for missing the Moody incident and possibly not flagging up a couple of other referee errors to him. So in the end, all the screaming from Tahs fans (including myself) did something to make the officiating better. And that is a good thing, yes? :)
piru
Roar Rookie
I think this interpretation is stupid and should be done away with - Rugby must be the only sport that penalises an attempted intercept.
ThugbyFan
Guest
Rugger, yes in XV the time it takes for scrums and resets is a PITA, but what really get my goat is every time there is an excuse, 4 water guys, plus medics, messengers and gawd knows who else run onto the field. Everyone stands there wasting time while players get water, coach's instructions and a nice rest. We fans up in the bleachers can go to hell. For example, about the 35th minute of the Tahs v Highlanders game: a lineout is called; S.Kepu is out of breath and goes down, the H'Landers hooker Dixon feels his knee is crook and also goes down. Out rushes 2 medicos and 3 water folks and a "horse whisperer" from each team. We now have over 45 people on the field, all milling around as the clock grinds slowly onwards. Finally after about 2 minutes, the hooker gingerly walks to the lineout followed about a minute later by Kepu. The referee then has to tell all the water folks to leave the field. The players then slowly walk to form the lineout. About 5 minutes was totally wasted, neither player was actually injured and both could have been treated on the sideline. That 42 minute first half actually took 53 minutes. That's 11 minutes of boredom for the fans. For mine: NO water boys/girls on the field ever! If a player needs a drink then he can go to the sideline and imbibe while play continues. If players go down with cramp, exhaustion or a twinge in the knee then again let play continue while they are treated on the sideline. Play should only stop if an injury looks serious. Of course you can never stop the rest breaks totally. All a player has to do is fall in a heap in the middle of the play as if shot by a sniper and the referee is forced to stop play. But that would only happen once or twice, not 10 times a game.
ThugbyFan
Guest
I said that in another blog yesterday. If the defender is onside and I throw a pass that he can intercept, then how come he gets a yellow if he knocks on, its almost like my team is massively rewarded for my bad pass. And I don't care if he just deliberately slaps it, it was my pass that let him get near the ball. I would rather the rules below: Defender onside - and catches the ball, he is a hero and I am a zero: - and knocks on, scrum: - and deliberately slaps ball whether a try was on or not, penalty kick from where it happened: Defender offside - and catches the ball, penalty where it happened: - and knocks-on, penalty right in front: - and slaps ball, penalty right in front: - slaps ball and saves a definite try, yellow card and penalty right in front.
ThugbyFan
Guest
Marlin, the word is Jack Dempsey may not be back at all for SR2018. He is on light training but is ginger in the rough stuff.
adam smith
Guest
Still, it’s just your opinion like I said, no proof offered just an opinion from your observation. If your take that chip off of your shoulder, you may just see that all teams push the boundarys.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Right elbow, is very heavily strapped. Reports were that he was close to missing a match the other week. Is a continuation of the injury that kept him out of the Brizzie 10s back in Feb. He also injured his ribs against the Sharks - they are notorious for taking a long time to heal so I suspect they haven't and he is just playing through it.
John R
Roar Guru
Hey Ben, not a big deal, but derailing topics is actually against the Roar's Comments policy: https://www.theroar.com.au/comments-policy/
Ken Catchpole’s Other Leg
Guest
Yes PeterK, the heat on Ben OKeefe is OTT for mine. One human eye can only see so much in real time. The TMO, Aaron Paterson? with multi slowmo’s around a multi pass try.....well let’s just say that his performance was like a bikini - it exposed a lot of nice play, but what it hid was crucial.
cs
Roar Guru
Yay Chook!
double agent
Guest
It was in the Sunday Telegraph.
double agent
Guest
That joke's already been done on here.
cinque
Guest
I think the next generation of players will have to be trained from an early age to always throw both hands at the ball. If you get fingers from both hands to the ball, knock-on at worst. If it's one hand, palm direction irrelevant, keep on walking if you don't regather. Should maybe be cut to 5 minutes, though.
Reverse Wheel
Guest
Yeah well Jacko just maligned John Eales, so it's on baby!
Reverse Wheel
Guest
I didn't say all kiwis. And I didn't refer to the red card. Work on legitimate representation of other's opinions when you critique please. Then use your scroll bar. Maybe scroll up to the post directly before mine, the one about how sickening it was winning all those games. You know, the one I replied to. Then tell me that guy wasn't being an arrogant tosser.
Reverse Wheel
Guest
I like him. Passionate.
Reverse Wheel
Guest
Wasn't aware he was injured but that would explain it. What's the injury?
Reverse Wheel
Guest
I think there has to be a yellow card possibility for it, otherwise defenses will be batting the ball around all over the place. But an auto yellow card every time someone goes for an intercept and gets it wrong is excessive. I think the interpretation the ref was going for last night makes sense, but he wasn't consistent. Not with Hooper, that was sensible. But Thompson should have been given 10.