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'That's going to be the huge challenge' - Waratahs star warns against complacency

Kurtley Beale. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

After a succession of false dawns already this season, the NSW Waratahs know there can be no room for complacency when they host the Sharks in a potentially pivotal Super Rugby clash on Saturday night.

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The Waratahs revived their campaign with a gritty comeback victory over Melbourne last start and now have the chance to relieve the Rebels of the conference lead with a bonus-point win against the touring South Africans.

But having suffered a momentum-stopping loss to the Brumbies after back-to-back derby wins, and then followed up a hoodoo-busting triumph over the mighty Crusaders with a shock defeat to the Sunwolves, the Tahs are very much on guard against another sapping let-down.

“That’s going to be the huge challenge. We’ve touched on that during the week,” fullback Kurtley Beale said at Friday’s captain’s run at Parramatta’s Bankwest Stadium.

“Obviously we had a similar situation after beating the Crusaders going into the Sunwolves game.

“So no doubt everyone’s got that in the back of our heads and it’s important now that we keep building on what we did last week.

“We did some great things.”

Beale was man of the match against the Rebels after taking over from suspended star Israel Folau and is happy to continue pushing his claims for the Wallabies’ No.15 role in this all-important World Cup year.

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The versatile playmaker was shortlisted for world player of the year honours when he last filled the fullback role for Australia in 2010.

Beale has mostly played in the centres and five-eighth for the Wallabies since.

“Obviously it’s a position that we need to fill in at the moment and I thought last week the whole backline adapted really well to that,” he said.

“There’s a little bit more space there for myself to be out there roaming around and popping up inside and outside the playmakers and I’m just relishing it at the moment.”

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Karmichael Hunt’s arrival at the Waratahs this year as a ready-made inside centre also gives coach Daryl Gibson the option of using Beale at fullback.

“Karmichael’s got some great ball-carrying attributes and his ball playing at times can be very handy, especially getting the ball to space out wide to your channels,” Beale said.

“So he’s a a great asset for the team and a great guy to have because he brings that experience, he’s level-headed and he brings a lot of physicality up front as well.”

The Sharks match marks the start of a gruelling three-game block against South African outfits, with the Waratahs facing the Bulls and Lions in the Republic.

“It’s a tough place to go. The travel is hard on a lot of players,” said veteran halfback Nick Phipps.

“So it’s important for us to put in a good performance and get used to playing South African teams and hopefully try and pinch some points early before we get on the road.”

AAP

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Flankly 1 minute ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 10 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 39 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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