Rob Penney is unsure if he remains the best man to coach the NSW Waratahs after presiding over an historic third loss in a row to start the Super Rugby AU season.
As if record defeats to the Brumbies and Queensland Reds to open their 2021 campaign weren’t bad enough, now Penney and the Waratahs are the first team to fall victim to the Western Force in almost four years.
The Force’s 20-16 victory over the baby Tahs on Friday night in Sydney was their first in Super Rugby in ten games since being reinstated to the domestic version of the competition last year.
The Perth franchise last tasted success, also against the Waratahs in Perth, in July 2017 in their final game before being booted out of Super Rugby.
That the Waratahs blew a 13-0 lead at Bankwest Stadium only compounded Penney’s pain.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
“I don’t know. You’ll answer that for us,” he said when asked if the four-point loss to the Force – and improved performance – showed he should still be coach.
“You can dissect the minutia of the whole performance. We made a few too many errors, they made a few less. There’s the result.
“But there’s positives we can take.”
In Penney’s defence, the former Munster mentor inherited a Waratahs team in obvious decline after taking over from his New Zealand compatriot Daryl Gibson last year.
Then he lost Wallabies captain Michael Hooper to Japan, the Waratahs’ 2020 skipper Rob Simmons to London Irish and several others to better overseas offers after the pandemic wrought financial havoc on Australian rugby.
All up, the Waratahs have seen more than 1800 caps in Super Rugby experience walk out on the club in the past two years.
No coach could be expected to succeed on the playing roster he’s been asked to work with.
But no fans are more fickle than the Waratahs faithful, leaving Penny precariously placed just three rounds into the new season.
Big Dog
Guest
Yeh nah - never, ever heard that. Nice try, though.
Big Dog
Guest
As just about everyone does AFTER they move on from NSW. It’s so predictable, it’s not even a question of if they will these days.
Big Dog
Guest
Cron is a very good young coach on the move. The way he was treated by the Tahs board was a disgrace - typical of the utter blockheaded moves they had made, without exception, year after year.
Big Dog
Guest
So Maloney was mispronouncing it on Saturday night? He kept calling him “Nawa-ni-wasay”
Amcd
Roar Rookie
The media are the immediate problem, not Penny. Penny is an excellent coach but he has inherited a nightmare from the Tahs executives. The abandonment of long time captain Hooper and other players is also bad. I expect he will expect to slot back in once he has had his lucrative Japanese holiday. We are seeing a worse and horrible continuation of low commentary standards under Stan. For heavens sake “Shawnie” and his tabloid, sensationalist calling is tough to listen to. I am forced to watch the games with audio turned off. On the contrary Super Rugby Aoteroa has excellent kiwi callers/commentators who know what they are talking about. So my message to Stan dump the sensational idiots and “watch how calling should be in NZ and UK ( the UK match’s are still on Foxtel). So, perhaps I will dump Stan and use my VPN to subscribe to NZ rugby.
Yeah I think Maddocks chances have passed bye......I would have liked to see him given a chance a few years back at 10 but I think its to late now....harrison just looked like the world was on his shoulders...
Perthstayer
Roar Rookie
The Force did not play well. But if we played Tahs again next Saturday we'd put 10-20 over them. The weight of the monkey on WF back was suffocating.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Jez, you're a bloody show-off...
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Probably because every other team has more. The Force for example have about a dozen tier 1 international capped players.
Milan
Guest
Cmon Jacko, get with it man ????
BlouBul
Roar Rookie
It is just a matter of time.
Bobbles
Guest
the tahs have 8 wallaby capped wallabies How are they a basket case?
jeznez
Roar Guru
I miss Naiyaravoro and he actually was a back rower in his junior days. There really should be a process that let’s him play for Fiji. He’s said he wants to but that one Wallaby cap prevents him.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Not sure we can afford him and I’d be worried about his injury history. He only managed 9 games for London Irish last year. Would be quality if fit.
Mo
Guest
Next time a taquele nairavuyo? Sorry for spelling. Arrives show him vunipola videos and tell him he’s playing 8.
Mo
Guest
Nothing wrong with place of ancestry. Issue is proven ability. Korobeiti and vunivalu were very good leaguies. If they wanted to throw big $ then Mike A would have been worth considering. Surely Radike Samo is still playing?
Mo
Guest
I suspect a guy like Adam Coleman would love the opportunity of filling a critical playing and leadership position. He wants to be the “man” and he is pretty tough. Good second efforts during games. Why not go find him and offer him the captaincy?
jeznez
Roar Guru
Nah, it's good for everyone to learn it. Step one is recognising that the 'q' is pronounced with an 'ng' sound so 'waqa' rhymes with the Japanese comics 'manga' Phonetically - Na-wanga-nita-wa-say
Objective Observer
Roar Rookie
The Crusaders are one team - one team that have dominated Super Rugby like no other team, every other team in the comp has had ups and downs. NSW have lacked any planning at all under the current and last coach, everyone in NSW knows that, we all know the problem eg recruiting Rob Simmons. We hope we are now developing talent and can look to ensure in the future, rebuilding is not a complete rebuild.
Double Agent
Guest
If I was him I'd change that name just for the sake of making filling in forms and ordering pizzas easier.