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.
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.
(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?
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.
The Waratahs should take a long hard look at why the Rebels are playing far more positive rugby with far fewer Wallabies.
Go figure.
Patto
Guest
You`re dreaming mate .Foley is dreadful.You should thank him for the ABS absolute domination of Wallabies over the last 5 years. He gifted you the 2017 Bledisloe Cup in 2017 in Dunedin by missing 3 conversions and a penalty.
terrykidd
Roar Pro
Dean Mumm ??
Geoffrey
Guest
Don't forget the 1000 points Foley has missed, give him some credit for that mate.
Andreas
Guest
And then he said " a Tahs win over the Rebels would make things very interesting. "
Gav
Guest
The Quade Folau combo could be lethal on attack.But Chekko will lump Folau with Foley.
terrykidd
Roar Pro
The Tahs hung in there but that 17 point opening 20 minutes from the Blues was just too much to peg back. Did anyone else notice that twice the Tahs coughed up errors and the Blues subsequently scored, when the Tahs tried the deep, pass out the back, block plays? I reckon they need to ditch the play because in recent weeks it has led to errors and tries being scored against them. Maybe Nick Bishop can pick it apart for us?
terrykidd
Roar Pro
My opinion JOC will not get a look in so my starting backline would be Genia, Cooper, Folau, Kerevi, English, Maddocks, Banks. I quite savour the thought of Kerevi, Folau, Maddocks and Banks running into gaps off a Cooper pass ..... plenty of pace there and all back three with high ball and kicking ability.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
Touché
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yes Id be very guarded about the Chiefs after that trip. 56-10 on the bulls at altitude then jags on way back a week later? This is not the same Chiefs side that played pre the trip.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yeah agree with that. Any player with the ball in hand should be able to be tackled more easily. Tend to agree with Pete as well, its a negative play to ruin what otherwise could be very exciting finishes, yet they get dumbed down so nothing can happen at a critical time. Theres a danger of becoming league like when areas like this get picked on so that needs considering if changing ‘masses of bodies’ around the ball carrier.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Thats if anyone on the earth has bothered to actually think about it. :-)
taylorman
Roar Guru
Dont think anyone is, they just seem to ignore obvious shortcomings he has in the rest of his game. His moments in the air last about 2% max in any given match. As critical as they might be on the scoreboard theres still a lot of the folau game thats ordinary, bordering on poor.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
I’d hazard a guess that anyone on planet earth who considers Jayne or Dagg superior to Folau in the air probably supports the All Blacks.
Jigbon
Guest
staniforth was Waratahs best player against the blues. He really stood out.
numpty
Roar Rookie
imagine just complimenting someone for a great achievement and stopping there.
KiwiHaydn
Roar Rookie
Some interesting comments on Izzy when he was first signed https://www.facebook.com/1387462128157306/posts/2363214210582088?sfns=mo
Crash Ball2
Roar Rookie
Simply be the best in his position SE? That’s frankly ridiculous. What are we going to do with all these freakin’ chainsaws?
soapit
Roar Guru
definitely pk, we all know it but they have zero flexibility in selection because of how specific their game plan is (and have for years). not forgetting that its been proven to be a pretty rubbish game plan also
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
If this is true then Cheika should go down in history as the worst Wallabies coach in 40+ years.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
Jones carried well on the weekend.