'Embarrassed': Hooper's farewell falls flat as horrific Tahs smashed in momentum-killer ahead of quarter

The Waratahs’ hopes of taking momentum into their quarter-final against the Blues at Eden Park have suffered a huge setback after being smashed by Moana Pasifika 33-24 on Saturday night.

While the result didn’t affect their standings on the Super Rugby finals, it was a deflating blow ahead of their difficult trip across the ditch.

It also meant Michael Hooper – the man who led the Waratahs to their maiden Super Rugby title in 2014 – didn’t get the fairytale send-off at Allianz Stadium he so desired, as Moana Pasifika spoiled the party to claim their first win of the season.

“It was bad on all fronts,” Waratahs coach Darren Coleman said.

“You’ve got that yucky feeling in the bottom of your stomach that you didn’t perform there how you wanted. It was bad for ‘Hoops’ to finish like that. It was bad for momentum into play-offs that we played so badly.”

Making matters worse, Coleman will be without prop Harry Johnson-Holmes (syndesmosis) and regular captain Jake Gordon (concussion) for their trip across the ditch, while Izaia Perese (hip) and Langi Gleeson (back) are in doubt.

Michael Hooper scored a late try but his farewell from Allianz Stadium fell flat as the Waratahs were smashed by Moana Pasifika. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

The Waratahs were horrific from start to finish despite taking an early lead, as they conceded 21 unanswered points to trail 21-14 at half-time.

But two tries midway through the second half to Christian Lealiifano and Miracle Faiilagi saw Moana Pasifika run away with the match.

Tolu Latu and Hooper scored late tries from rolling mauls, but the later five-pointers could do little to escape the embarrassing defeat.

Coleman and his defence coach Jason Gilmore appeared shell-shocked in the coaching box, as they now face the reality of having to head across the ditch to a venue they haven’t won at since 2009 and have won just once in 14 attempts since Super Rugby started.

All the while Hooper, who is arguably the Waratahs’ greatest player in Super Rugby history, was given a send-off from the Sydney crowd that stayed behind to farewell the courageous and inspirational No.7.

The Waratahs now have six days to turn it around, but Coleman said they couldn’t feel sorry for themselves and had to get back on the horse.

“Yeah we have to. Of course. It’s hurting now. [I am] embarrassed now off the back of that,” he said.

“We had such a good opportunity with such a good crowd and what would have been a good event to finish on a high. You see those juniors march in and you really want to win them over on the sport by having a team they look up to and we dish up that shit. I take full responsibility for that.

“My job is to lick my wounds tonight and then figure out how I’m going to get us out of it tomorrow and get going. We’re probably in a similar position to where I was when I took on the job. No one gave us too much of a chance. There was a lot of negative chat. I’ll figure out how I try and get us up. I’m hurting now. I’ll be ready to go by 6am.”

While the Waratahs made sweeping changes to their starting side, the adding injury toll and the disappointing performances from several players who were given chances in different positions was a concern.

Mark Nawaqanitawase struggled at fullback in place of the injured Max Jorgensen, as he appeared distracted and dropped two balls and missed his target from passes too.

Ben Donaldson’s consistency problems continued, particularly with his kicking.

While their scrum struggled, too.

But it was the lack of respect the Waratahs showed their opponents that was just as concerning, as they looked hellbent on scoring points rather than playing disciplined, smart rugby.

Meanwhile, Lealiifano’s side were brilliant.

On several occasions they’ve threatened to win, including Lealiifano’s late conversion miss to deny them victory in Fiji last weekend, but Moana Pasifika were excellent on Saturday night.

“To be honest, you’ve got to give some credit to Moana,” Hugh Sinclair said. “We helped them play that stop-start footy and they thrived on it.”

The Waratahs turned defence into attack for Nawaqanitawase’s opening try, as the fullback managed to pick up the scraps following Joey Walton’s astute kick in open space.

But more ill-discipline saw Moana Pasifika once again camp down in the Waratahs’ attacking zone, as Donaldson was pinged for not rolling away.

From the lineout, the visitors crossed as winger Timoci Tavatavanawai scored despite clearly failing to release the ball when tackled.

The Waratahs weren’t helped either when Faiilagi scored soon after Moana Pasifika were awarded another dubious penalty at the lineout, as Hugh Sinclair was penalised for tackling Samuel Slade despite the lock jumping into the tackle without the ball.

The match had a boilover written all over it when Tavatavanawai scored after 31 minutes.

Darren Coleman has a week to turn the Waratahs around after a horrible loss in Sydney to the previously winless Moana Pasifika. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

The home side took some momentum into the second half when Ned Hanigan scored next to the uprights.

But the second half turned into a disaster, as poor handling was matched by set-piece struggles.

Lealiifano’s brilliant show and go saw the veteran Wallaby score, before Faiilagi sealed the victory.

Late tries to Latu and Hooper put some respectability on the scoreboard, but the night was summed up when the departing hooker slammed the ball into the ground after yet another error in contact.

While Sinclair said the task ahead of them one was an almighty one, he added that knockout footy could throw up some curve balls and the Waratahs wouldn’t “wave the white flag”.

“Yeah, look, It’s tough. It’s one of the toughest assignments you can have,” he said.

“We had a decent learning curve with the Chiefs last year, that was the first week of finals as well, so I think we take some lessons out of that. But yeah, Eden Park, it’s a different beast. It’s their fortress. Australian Rugby hasn’t done well there. But finals are a funny thing. Strange things can happen.

“You’ve got to have a crack. As DC [Coleman] said, we’re not going to wave the white flag. We’re going to go out there and have a go. Yeah, we’ve got a couple of injuries, but it’s 15 versus 15. At the end of the day, it’s 15 Kiwis versus 15 Aussies. We play the Aussie way, we play our way. We play with some more accuracy, we play tough and we’ll be alright, we’ll get the result.”