Opening the floodgates is a sure-fire way to break a drought. The Waratahs rained in six tries to the Highlanders two at Allianz Stadium last night, to end a two-year and 40-match dry spell for Aussie teams in trans-Tasman fixtures.
It was a great response by the Tahs to last week’s gut-wrencher against the Crusaders.
The key moment came in the 19th minute with the home side 8-0 up, Highlanders winger Tevita Nabura jumped up for a high ball but decided to do his best Bruce Lee impression on the way down with a boot to Cam Clark’s face.
The intention was obvious as Nabura locked eyes on his opposing wing as he proceeded to sink his studs into his mush.
Although Kiwi referee Brendon Pickerill, the TV commentators (including Clark’s dad Greg, who maintained a stoic silence as the replays were shown) and most viewers missed it in real time, a check upstairs confirmed the deliberate action and Nabura was red-carded out of the game.
While not justice for Joe Moody’s elbow on Kurtley Beale in Christchurch last Saturday, it was some sort of consolation.
The equation got harder again for the visitors when their spark plug Aaron Smith got pulled from the game for 10 when binned for deliberately knocking the ball down.
Monster wing Taqele Naiyaravoro had scored the first try of the match with a hot-stepping effort to the line in the 15th minute following some excellent lead-up work from Beale and Israel Folau.
Naiyaravoro struck again while the Highlanders had just 13 on the pitch, getting enough fingertips on the ball over the line to have the Tahs up 15-zip.
Despite a few streaky moments late in the half, including dropped balls and inexplicable kicking away of possession, often down the throat of normally deadly counter attacker Waisake Naholo, the Tahs retained the margin into the break.
‘Surely, we can’t stuff it up from here like we did last week’ is what none of the Tahs’ players would have said at halftime but many would have been excused for thinking.
The determination to finish the job and end the hoodoo was palpable in the opening moments of the second spell when they won their own kick off and two phases later Bernard Foley, who had an excellent game, successfully marketed a dummy to hare up the field and send Curtis Rona over the line but unable to ground the ball.
Two minutes later Folau was in for the first of his two tries in the opposite corner from where Foley banged over the extras, for the perfect start to the half.
The hoodoo demons briefly appeared when the Highlanders opened their scoring from the next play when Ben Smith put a smart kick pass to an unmarked Elliot Dixon for a converted try.
However, home fears abated in the 55th minute when Folau crashed over for his second for the night and 50th try all up for the Tahs, at the end of a sweeping coast-to-coast movement, which Foley again converted from near the sideline.
Again, the visitors responded immediately, this time via their other Dixon, co-captain Ash, crashing over at the end of a nicely constructed lineout drive.
But that was to be the full extent of this kiwi comeback as the Tahs powered away with two more tries to Lalakai Foketi and Rona, to end a great blight on Australian rugby.
Although Tahs skipper Michael Hooper was having nothing of the hoodoo talk post-match.
“If you’d asked me before the game I wouldn’t have said anything about it, now it doesn’t matter,” he snapped.
“It’s frustrating to hear that all the time and it was the last thing we were thinking about.”
Whatevs.
The streak-breaking win couldn’t have come at a more opportune time given Paul Cully’s obituary for Australian Super Rugby in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald.
“This competition is dead in Australia. Finito. Over. The golden goose became a turkey and it’s now a dodo,” Cully wrote in his exhortation for Aussie rugby to stick it to SANZAAR and ‘go it alone’.
Well, the dodo has just been given the faintest kiss of life.
The Tahs are away to the Chiefs next Saturday, who will be making the long trip back from South Africa after a 24-28 loss to the Sharks this morning.
Meanwhile the Reds, who kept the all-conquering Hurricanes to within four points in Wellington on Friday, are hosting the Highlanders straight afterwards.
Could an Aussie trans-Tasman winning streak go a full week?
Dean
Guest
I'm with you Ken. (Or should I call you Leg?) Moody's action (and Loe's for those old enough to remember) were totally premeditated dog acts by wily thugs who thought they could get away with it because they'd gotten away with similar acts many times before. Nabura's looked more like a young, inexperienced guy who made a sudden bad decision in a stressful situation.
Damo
Guest
The trouble is there were few in attendance and few watching on TV. How can the Tahs only get 47k watching on TV? To put this into perspective a Championship Rugby League match from England, note not even a Super League match, had 39k watching going up against the Royal Wedding too at 10pm. Never mind the fact that 2 other Super Rugby matches only got 21k and 26k. We can barely compete against overseas lower league RL now never mind the AFL and NRL.
Damo
Guest
In your dreams!
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Agree, it wasn't a fair fight. The win belongs to that Tahs, fair and square, but I would caution using the performance a a benchmark for brilliance. Correct me if I am wrong, but I Don't think the Highlanders were resting anyone.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
I will stand with you Ken. I used to be a long and high jumper and have an appreciation for the challenges controlling a body in the air. {Gymnasts and Diver's please don't react, you are awesome but are half the mass and you usually land on something soft. The next part of your routine doesn't involve being leveled by a large Fijian gentleman}. When you jump off 1 leg, the body has a tenancy to rotate in the air. Long jumpers use the gyroscopic properties of a a hitch-kick to stay straight, Nabura looked like he had forgotten this and was in the process of rotating through 90 degrees and didn't want to take a shot to the kidneys or back when he landed. If my observations are correct, I would say that players in all sides are being trained to land pointy side forwards and tuck their knees before landing to maximize time in the air. This discourages the tackler and can draw a penalty for a late hit. I don't buy the argument that making eye contact per-meditation, all good players are looking to what was going to happen next, and in his case, it was being owned by Cam Clarke. It did help him hit his target though. In real time it looked like he got his execution wrong and the contact with Clarke's head was a soft tap and not a vicious kick. Sill deserved a Red Card but rubbed out for many weeks might be unfair. I think Moody's incident is overdone too. Beale and Moody charged at each other, Beale dropped his elbows just before making contact, Moody didn't have the same piece of mind and made a contact negligently.
piru
Roar Rookie
It wasn't just engaging though Peter, he changed lines and restrained the defender who was trying to go round him to get at the ball carrier
Smiggle Jiggle
Roar Guru
In slow mo, it looked worst. Look at it in normal speed, and it is a different story.
cuw
Guest
it was a good kick wasnt it? shades of Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. i mean its not that east to do it without having to catch the ball. also not forgetting that he put himself in danger - if he did not land properly , could easily twist the ankle. not something u see often as foul play goes.
ThugbyFan
Guest
Spot on, Johnny. At first I queried if Barrett's tackle was all shoulder but after seeing video of that incident I think I may have said in that same thread that the try stands and Barrett should have been spoken to by the referee about that late tackle. That would be a fair outcome. Yes T.Tupou got hit with the shoulder and upper arm and was winded big time but Barrett's tackle, as per the laws, was legal. His arms were there.
cinque
Guest
It's possible. If Aaaron Smith's try gets awarded, who knows? A close call.
cinque
Guest
Yeah, and maybe Billy Slater is his hero
piru
Roar Rookie
James the Tahs try was disallowed because Kepu tackled the defender - if he'd kept his hands to himself they probably would have awarded it
piru
Roar Rookie
Agree Paulo, I'm sure the card had an impact, but I don't think it's what lost the Highlanders the game. A bit like Moody's magic elbow, the magic karate kick is just a convenient excuse
piru
Roar Rookie
I tend to agree, I thought he was trying to be clever and initiate a touch in the air and maybe milk a penalty. The kick was simply too good to have been deliberate - they aren't doing Kung Fu in Dunedin I don't think That said - red all day regardless, can't be going all Ryu on the wing
piru
Roar Rookie
I thought he might have slid it onto the line, and I think Ayoub did too the number of times he replayed the last angle. Ref said it was a no try though, so needed a clear and obvious grounding to reverse the call
PeterK
Roar Guru
makes zero difference in a maul if you engage the opposition, totally allowed
Johnny Boy
Guest
"The rubbish calls against the Reds and Waratahs apart from the late tackle on Tupou by Barrett in the Hurricanes game after he stormed down the side line and" Simon, I thought I had already explained the laws to you on the other thread. Are you that biased that you simply choose to ignore facts? One more time....Even if Barret's tackle was late, because he used his arms when tackling, the offence would have resulted in a penalty only. However as the Reds scored a try a couple of seconds later, that would have negated the need to go back to a penalty. Why is this so hard for you to comprehend?
Jacko
Guest
Sorry ken but he looked straight at Clarkes head before kicking him...Nothing reckless as it was a deliberate action.
Ken Catchpole’s Other Leg
Guest
It also gives the coach something to do during a game, Peter. Better for the health of the coach, not to mention the doors and windows on the coaches’ box.?
Ken Catchpole’s Other Leg
Guest
Atlas, regarding the logic of Nabura’s ‘criminal’ lack of ‘remorse’ - Because Moody showed so much ‘remorse’ on his way to the try line? I am going to break ranks here. I don’t think that Nabura’s act was as bad as many are making out. No doubt he made deliberate contact with his foot. No doubt the point of contact was Clarke’s head. But the context was the vulnerability of being high in the air (after a brilliant catch btw), coming down with a player in very close proximity. I sensed that his may have been an intention to ‘push’ rather than ‘strike’ the tackler, out of fear of contact while in the air. Reckless, yes, extremely so. His foot contacted the player’s head, not his shoulder or chest. And it was his extended boot studs, not his thigh or bent knee (which are often used in aerial contact without sanction) that made contact. It was extremely reckless and clumsy and begging for a card. But this theatrical ‘boot to the head’ rhetoric around his suspension is OTT. He is no Richard Loe. I can hear Paul Carozza echoing Crocodile Dundee -“ that’s not a thump in the head, THIS is a thump in the head.” Similarly, the moral equivalence/comparison given to the Joe Moody game changing incident is ridiculous. Nabura’s action was not cynical, seeking advantage, performed from an offside position, deliberately vicious or result in a try. Give the kid a break. He recklessly used the wrong part of his body to protect himself while in the air. He does not deserve big weeks for a moment’s stupidity.