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No player is taking more responsibility for the NSW Waratahs’ shabby start to the Super Rugby Pacific season than Izaia Perese.
Dejected Waratahs captain Jake Gordon called on teammates to look in the mirror and take accountability for their individual errors after last Friday night’s 34-17 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington.
Perese, the Waratahs’ player of the year in 2021, has done just that, candidly conceding “I need to pull my finger out”.
“Look, I definitely haven’t hit where I want to be but I just need to be more patient with myself,” the strike centre said on Tuesday.
“It’s been a slow start but hopefully it will come in games.
“There’s no ‘why’. I just need to pull my finger out.
“Everyone, when it comes to effort and caring and wanting to win, it’s there.
“It’s just getting the chemistry right.”
Izaia Perese. (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)
Back-rower Lachie Swinton said every player across the board had put their hand up during Monday’s brutal review of the Tahs’ third loss from four starts this campaign and admitted to being below their best.
“Lads put their hand up but that can only get you so far. We can’t use it as an excuse anymore,” Swinton said.
“But it all does start with making yourselves accountable and then holding each other to that.
“Just lapses in concentration. We’ve identified that and we’ve got to perform.”
As if taking on the Hurricanes at Sky Stadium wasn’t a tough enough assignment, the Waratahs return home on Friday night to host the unbeaten table-topping Chiefs.
“They make you pay for little dropped balls and that. They’re straight onto it and they’ll skin you for things like that,” Swinton said.
“So we’ve got to really tighten up that aspect of our game, That will be massive for us.
“Playing the Kiwi teams, it can always be a bit personal but I don’t think there’ll be any lack of motivation from our boys.
“We’ve got a point to prove.”
With the second-placed Brumbies in Canberra to follow in round six, the next two games loom as season-defining for the Waratahs.
“It’s a home game so we’ve definitely got to show up and really put one on,” Perese said.
The crunch match against the Chiefs is the second in a double-header, with the NSW Waratahs Women up against the Western Force in the opening game of the 2023 Super W season.
Alex Mafi says Melbourne coach Kevin Foote continues to give them freedom to play their own game despite a rocky beginning to the Super Rugby Pacific season.
Rather than retreat into their shells after a 1-3 start, the hooker said Foote is backing the team, who matched the undefeated Chiefs early on in Hamilton last round before suffering a 44-25 defeat.
Melbourne host Queensland (2-2) – from whom Mafi joined the Rebels this season – on Saturday night in round five.
The home side will be without Wallabies back and vice-captain Reece Hodge, with the outside centre expected to miss four weeks following finger surgery.
Mafi, 26, said the halves, as well as Hodge, had been playing with confidence.
“Footie is doing a really good job in instilling a lot of confidence into the boys, particularly our game managers in Carter (Gordon), Ryan Louwrens and Bobby Tuttle and Reece Hodge,” Mafi said on Tuesday.
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“It trickles down from them into the rest of the team, with our shape and how we want to move the ball and play our footy.
“We’ve been able to showcase that – that we can score when we’re given opportunities – we want to swing the ball and have some fun and play footy that’s inspiring.
“That’s the default we want to fall back on even when things don’t go right.”
Queensland born and bred, Mafi decided he needed a change when his 2022 season was drastically cut short after suffering a neck injury in round two against the NSW Waratahs.
He felt that challenging himself at Rebels, training against another World Cup hooker hopeful in Jordan Uelese as well as highly rated Kiwi Anaru Rangi was improving his game.
Every day is really good competition here and coming in every day and rubbing shoulders with Jordie and Anaru has been really good for my own game and for theirs as well – the competitive, and positive, environment is helping us all bring our games along,” Mafi said.
The Reds are coming off a hard-fought win over the Fijian Drua and Mafi said he expected a stiff challenge against his former side but the Rebels were desperate for another victory.
“They have a really good front row – they’re a young bunch, which means they’ve got a lot of energy and they’ve been playing some pretty good rugby,” he said.
“(Hooker Matt Faessler) has been really good at his line-out and he gets around the park really well, quite a quick fella.
“This game means a lot to us in terms of our season, and we’re just really focused on getting that win.”
Western Force captain Michael Wells has given an insight into the team’s brutal analysis of games, saying players need to feel embarrassed at times in order to learn from their mistakes.
The Force were left ruing the one that got away after conceding three tries in the final 20 minutes of last week’s 43-35 loss to the Highlanders in New Zealand.
The result left the Force in eighth spot on the ladder with a 2-2 record ahead of Sunday’s clash with the Blues at Eden Park.
The Force held their review on Tuesday, and a series of home truths were delivered.
(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
“Today was a pretty long, hard look at ourselves,” Wells said.
“Some good hard truths came in, because early in the week that’s what you need before you move on.
“Guys need to see clips, they need to almost be embarrassed by some of the stuff that comes up.
“In terms of the accountability piece, I wouldn’t say anyone shies away from putting their hand up if they have made a mistake.
“The good thing is people can have hard conversations with each other and know that we’re all aiming towards the same thing – winning games and winning the premiership.”
Former Rebels skipper Wells is in his first year at the Force and teams up with his leadership group for something of a ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine.
“I tend to be more of the hardline (critic), because that’s how I review my own self,” he said.
“(Finding a balance) is also about having a mix of personalities in the leadership group
“You’ve got the guys more attuned to that nice, warm shoulder for guys to lean on and help out. I definitely think someone like Bryce Hegarty is a good cop.
“And it’s also (about) not consistently beating someone over the head with a stick.
“It’s knowing when to give a carrot, incentivise people, and then knowing, ‘OK, now we’ve been a bit too nice, it’s time for some hard truths’.
“It’s a fine balance.”
The Blues have had a topsy-turvy start to the season, opening their campaign with a 60-20 win over the Highlanders, losing to the Brumbies 25-20 and beating the Hurricanes 25-19, before losing 34-28 to the Crusaders last week.
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.