Roar Guru
The Waratahs host the Sunwolves Saturday night at Allianz Stadium, Sydney. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 7:45pm AEST.
Heading towards the end of the season, Daryl Gibson’s Waratahs have surprised most pundits by skyrocketing to the top of the Australian conference.
Last week, they won a hotly contested match against an enterprising Rebels despite missing Michael Hooper and Israel Folau.
Folau is back today and will want to make up for lost time due to a one game ban. The Sunwolves are having yet another unsuccessful season, emulating the fortunes of the Western Force of old.
Japanese national coach Jamie Joseph is also at the help of the Sunwolves, has delivered noticeable improvements, winning three games so far this season.
The good news coming into this one for the Waratahs is that the result doesn’t really matter a great deal. The Rebels’ loss last night means they’re a certainty to finish on top of the conference.
The only way they could botch it from here is if the Tahs were to fall woefully short of the win in both remaining matches while the Rebels get a bonus-point win in the final week.
They’re the only team in the Australian conference with a positive points difference – up 69 – so it’s fair to say they deserve to be top dogs.
The Sunwolves, meanwhile, are the lowest-ranked team in the Australian conference and have the least wins of any side in the Super Rugby competition.
Things are set up well for the Tahs to get a win and put the conference victory beyond doubt.
Prediction
The Sunwolves have not won an away game yet. It is unlikely to change today, especially against an in-form Waratahs.
Waratahs by at 13