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The Waratahs’ hopes of finishing in the top four are fading by the week. An off-season of promise and hope has been dented by clumsy errors in attack.
The latest setback, a 34-17 defeat in Wellington to the dangerous Hurricanes – the third defeat to Darren Coleman’s side from four matches to start the season.
Forget about the top four aspirations. They’re all but gone.
More pressing for Coleman’s side is somehow finding a win over the fortnight, with the unbeaten Chiefs, who have rested four of their stars including Damian McKenzie and Brodie Retallick for Saturday’s match against the Rebels, and Brumbies looming.
Kini Naholo celebrates his double on debut for the Hurricanes. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Passes behind players, a dodgy lineout and a lethal Hurricanes side on the counter saw the Waratahs stumble in the New Zealand capital on their first match-up against trans-Tasman opposition this year.
The Waratahs only trailed by five points at half-time, after a fortuitous try to Nemani Nadolo and “remarkable” finish from teen wonder Max Jorgensen saw the visitors go into the sheds behind 17-12.
But three tries in less than 20 minutes to the home side, as halfback Cam Roigard and debutant winger Kini Naholo completed doubles and Dane Coles got on the end of a rolling maul, to put the result beyond doubt.
An intercept to Langi Gleeson, who was once again the Waratahs’ standout, saw the visitors stem the bleeding.
Langi Gleeson was the Waratahs’ best against the Hurricanes. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Errors from the home side allowed the Waratahs to have a couple of late opportunities to narrow the margin and press for a losing bonus point.
Debutant Mosese Tuipulotu, the brother of former Rebels centre turned Scotland star Sione, was tackled centimetres short of the line with his first touch in Super Rugby and, after some cunning work from Ardie Savea at the breakdown, the visitors were given one final chance after referee Brendon Pickerill deemed the ball unable to come out.
But another turnover at the breakdown meant the Hurricanes won comfortably.
Waratahs captain Jake Gordon lamented his side’s errors.
“It was probably execution a little bit [that hurt us],” Gordon said.
“That falls on the playmakers heads, so nine and 10, but we definitely had a clear plan but just didn’t execute it.
“We need to focus on ourselves here. Individuals, myself included, need to take more ownership especially around the technical side of the game, but we’ve good enough players in this group to turn it around.”
Coleman added: “The attack, it’s not fluent. There’s some glimpses in there and parts, is it our clunkiness, is it the opposition’s quality over our ball, probably a little bit of both.”
Waratahs Head Coach Darren Coleman says he’s excited by the challenge ahead of “digging” their way out of a hole. Photo: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
Making matters worse for the Waratahs is that they have injury concerns.
Charlie Gamble is likely to miss the next couple of weeks, while Lalakai Foketi has another shoulder injury that will likely see him next week’s home clash against the Chiefs. Max Jorgensen, meanwhile, is under a slight cloud after coming down hard on his shoulder in the process of his brilliant first-half try.
Fortunately the Waratahs have cover in both areas, particularly with Jed Holloway to be available.
Tuipulotu, who is weighing up an offer from Glasgow Warriors to join his brother in Scotland, could start for the first time while Joey Walton and Will Harrison are expected to be available too.
The Waratahs’ scrum held its own for the most part, but elsewhere there were few positives for the visitors.
Gleeson was again phenomenal, hooker Vahe Vailanu, lock Taleni Seu and Jorgensen were the Waratahs’ best.
But the Waratahs will need more if they are to seriously challenge in 2023.
“We don’t want to go into the by one and five, but again that’s my job to get us back up to go again next week,” Coleman said.
“A combination of travel and away games, I probably underestimated the difficult of our first six weeks. But by no means is the season over by any stretch.
“If we can scramble a win over the next two weeks – the Chiefs at home or the next week [against the Brumbies – we’ve got a pretty favourable run home. I think five of our final eight are at home. We’re still in it, but we’ve got to dig our way out of this form slump we’re in at the moment and get some belief and confidence back.”
The home side got on the scoreboard first as Barrett banged over an early penalty.
But their early lead didn’t last long, as former All Blacks World Cup-winner Julian Savea dropped the kick restart and Nemani Nadolo picked the ball up as clean as a whistle to score his first try in Super Rugby since 2016.
The Hurricanes didn’t take long to respond. Roigard, who was excellent all evening at halfback, barged his way through fly-half Ben Donaldson to score.
The frantic opening continued as Jorgensen scored spectacularly after bursting onto a Seu offload to score out wide. Donaldson’s sideline conversion gave the Waratahs a slender lead.
But Naholo’s first try despite the best efforts from Jorgensen to hold the flying winger up gave the Hurricanes a five-point lead at half-time.
Needing a fast start, the Waratahs failed to take their chances early in the second half. Making matters worse, the Hurricanes did what their Australian rivals couldn’t and opened up a huge lead and were chased down.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.