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Izzy has his try-scoring record, but Waratahs lose again

6th April, 2019
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6th April, 2019
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There are three plays where Waratahs fly-half Bernard Foley is consistently good: pinching a couple of metres kicking penalties for touch or goal, landing goals and kick-passing to Israel Folau.

It was the latter in the 24th minute at Eden Park last night that netted Folau his 60th Super Rugby try to edge past legendary Kiwi winger Doug Howlett’s 59 on the all-time list.

In a night for benchmarks. Foley later became only the sixth player in Super Rugby history to crack the 1000-point barrier.

Both Folau and Foley thoroughly deserve to be saluted for their achievements, but the Waratahs deserve a boot up the bum for not turning up to play.

They left their ability in the shed.

Down 17-nil in a hurry, the Waratahs spent the entire 80 minutes playing catch-up but never hit the lead.

They came close at 22-19 and 29-24, but every time the Waratahs made inroads they did something stupid and the Blues shot away again.

The Blues were clearly the better side, claiming a 32-29 win at Eden Park – the home side’s tenth win in the Waratahs’ last 11 visits. The only time the Waratahs have won was in March 2009.

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Last night the Blues dominated possession with 54 per cent and territory with 52, forcing the Waratahs to make 146 tackles to just 99.

But there were no white flags from the visitors. They kept ploughing on in both defence and attack but didn’t click often enough to score more points.

Up front, with Michael Hooper rested on that ridiculous rotation scheme, prop Harry Johnson-Holmes, flanker Jack Dempsey and No.8 Michael Wells were well prepared to mix it.

That led to the Waratahs competing in the scrums, as well as winning all their line-outs and three of the Blues’.

The major problems were among the backs with the usual suspects in half Nick Phipps, outside centre Adam Ashley-Cooper and, surprisingly, his centre partner Karmichael Hunt.

Phipps is 30, Ashley-Cooper 35 and Hunt 32, with a swag of representative games between them.

Yet all three were totally upstaged by 36-year-old Ma’a Nonu, who has returned to the Blues after four highly successful years with Toulon.

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Ma'a Nonu

(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

There’s little doubt Nonu will regain his All Black jumper for the World Cup. He’s still a world-class footballer.

Age is just a number on his passport. It has nothing to do with 80 minutes of rugby.

On three occasions he ran through Hunt and Ashley-Cooper, who were paired to stop the big boppers barnstorming through the middle according to coach Daryl Gibson pre-match.

That’s why Kurtley Beale was benched, but when he came on to replace Hunt in the 49th minute, the Waratahs backline started to be positive.

It was the combination of Beale, Foley and Folau that sent Alex Newsome into the corner, and 20 minutes later, Jake Gordon brilliantly burst clear on the blind to score.

Foley missed his only kick in five, and what did replacement half Gordon do with the kick-off, with only three minutes left on the clock?

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He kicked the damn ball away.

And what did the Blues do for the next three minutes?

Pick and go, pick and go, pick and go for 180 seconds.

Dumb rugby, Jake Gordon, but you weren’t alone. You just happened to be the last one.

The Waratahs have a bye next week to lick their wounds before they take on the front-running Rebels who crushed the Sunwolves 42-15, scoring six tries to two last night with Reece Hodge grabbing a hat trick.

It was a mighty impressive display.

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The Waratahs should take a long hard look at why the Rebels are playing far more positive rugby with far fewer Wallabies.

Go figure.

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