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'We know that our chances are sort of running out': Waratahs to face Rebels in 'huge' clash

(Photo by ALBERT PEREZ/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)

The NSW Waratahs are seeking an elusive 80-minute performance as they strive desperately to keep their Super Rugby AU finals hopes flickering on Friday night.

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The winless Waratahs head to Melbourne knowing it’s their last roll of the dice, with nothing less than victory over the Rebels required to stay in the title hunt.

It may seem pie-in-the-sky stuff for fans who witnessed NSW’s record-breaking losses to the Brumbies and Queensland Reds to open the season before becoming the first team to fall to the Western Force since the Perth franchise’s return to Super Rugby.

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James O’Connor speaks ahead of the Reds vs Force match.

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James O’Connor speaks ahead of the Reds vs Force match.

But winger Jack Maddocks, now arguably the Waratahs’ biggest name following the mass exodus of talent over the past two years, maintains making the playoffs remains “massively” in their sights.

“This is a huge game for us. If we win this, and the Reds win (against the Force), we’re level with the Force and the Rebels again so it will be all in our hands,” Maddocks said on Wednesday.

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“So it does have a big-game feel to it even though it’s early in the season.

“But we know that our chances are sort of running out so it’s a huge game for us and we all know it.”

The Waratahs blew a 13-0 lead last start against the Force and Maddocks said concentration lapses can’t keep happening, especially against a Rebels outfit featuring numerous Wallabies including Reece Hodge, Matt Toomua and in-form winger Marika Koroibete.

“I know we started red hot against the Force. We started well against the Reds as well and then there was 20 minutes there we made a lot of errors and they punished us and before we knew it the game was over,” Maddocks said.

“So those two games we’ve had good patches but we just haven’t been able to put that together for 80 minutes.

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“So for us it’s about consistency and patience to stay in the battle.”

Hodge is personally wary of Maddocks, declaring his former Rebels and Wallabies teammate a potential game-breaker for the Tahs.

“He’s obviously a pretty class player as all of our Melbourne fans would have seen with the season he had in 2018 down here,” Hodge said.

“”He’s got explosive pace, kicks off both feet and can beat anyone one on one.

“On his day, he would be one of the best attacking players going around in Australian rugby so between him, James Ramm and Mark Nawaqanitawase they are big attacking threats.

“So we need to make sure our kicking game and also our defence is on to counter them.”

The Rebels have made one forced change to their line-up following the three-week suspension of lock Ross Haylett-Petty, with Steve Cummins coming in.

Wallabies hooker Jordan Uelese will make his return from hand surgery via the bench with James Hanson starting.

Melbourne are playing their first game back at AAMI Park in 377 days, forced on the road last year and then preseason due to COVID-19 restrictions.

After disappointment against the Rebels, the Force host a buoyant Reds outfit who last round served up the Brumbies’ first defeat.

Former Wallabies lock Sitaleki Timani will make his first starting appearance while prop Greg Holmes, in his 150th Super Rugby match, has replaced Santiago Medrano.

Samoan World Cup international Henry Taefu is the new inside centre.

Ilaisa Droasese comes in for Test winger Filipo Daugunu in the only change to the Queensland starting side.

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T
TWAS 15 minutes ago
How the Lions will heap pressure upon Australia's million-dollar man

I’m sorry but this just seems like incredibly selective analysis attempting to blame all team failures on JAS.


Looking through the examples:


Example 1 - long place by JAS, all support overruns the ruck. Pilfer also achieved by a player resting his arms on JAS - so should be a penalty for of his feet anyway. No failure by JAS there failing to secure the ball. By his team mates, yes.


Example 2 - a knock on punched out by the first defender who’s tackle he initially beat, from behind. An error by JAS absolutely. But every player makes the odd handling error.


Example 3 - JAS just beaten to the ruck because defender shoots to make a good tackle He passes and immediately follows. Potentially should have been a penalty to Aus because the tackler had not released and swung around into JAS’s path preventing him securing the ball, and had not released when the jackal went for the pilfer. Tackler prevented a clean release by Potter and if there was any failure, it was the ball carrier who got into a horrible position.


I am struggling how you try and blame 1 on JAS and not support, but then blame JAS when the tackler fails to make a good placement.


Example 4 - JAS flies into this ruck out of nowhere, seemingly runs past the 12 to get there. Also did you miss McReight and Williams just jogging and letting JAS run past them? Anyway he busts a get to get there but was beaten to the contest. Any failure here is on the supporting players, McReight and Williams and JAS showed great instinct to charge in to try and secure.


Example 5 - JAS is following the lead of players inside him. How this is his fault I don’t know what you are thinking


Example 6 - Gleeson misses a tackle so JAS has to drift in off his man to take the ball carrier, leaving a larger overlap when he offloads. Failure by Gleeson not JAS


Examples 7 and 8 - Wallabies defensive line isn’t aggressive. But noting to do with JAS. Fisher has actually said he is not coaching a fast line speed. To try and blame JAS is again selective.


Seems like an agenda in this rather than the genuine, quality analysis I’ve come to expect from the author.

37 Go to comments
J
Jfp123 46 minutes ago
France push All Blacks to 80th minute in narrow Dunedin defeat

So, you think top rugby players’ wages ought to be kept artificially low, when in fact the forces of “demand and supply” mean that many can and indeed are commanding wages higher than you approve of, and even though players regularly get injured, and those injuries can be serious enough to cut short careers and even threaten lives, e.g. Steven Kitshoff.

.

As far as I can make out your objections amount to

1) they’ve sent a B team, which is not what we do and I don’t like it. Is there more to it than that? You haven’t replied to the points I made previously about sell out Tests and high ticket prices, so I take it reduced earnings are no longer part of your argument. Possibly you’re disappointed at not seeing Dupont et al., but a lot of New Zealanders think he is over rated anyway.


2) The Top 14 is paying players too much, leading to wage inflation around the world which is bad for the sport.

Firstly, young athletes have a range of sports to choose from, so rugby holding out the prospect of a lucrative, glamorous career helps attract talent.

Above all, market forces mean the French clubs earn a lot of money, and spend a large part of that money on relatively high wages, within a framework set by the league to maintain the health of the league. This framework includes the salary cap and Jiff rules which in effect limit the number of foreign stars the clubs employ and encourage the development of young talent, so there is a limit on Top14 demand. The Toulon of the 2010s is a thing of the past.


So yes, the French clubs cream off some top players - they are competitive sports teams, what do expect them to do with their money? - but there’s still a there’s a plentiful supply of great rugby players and coaches without French contracts. The troubles in England and Wales were down to mismanagement of those national bodies, and clubs themselves, not the French


So if you don’t want to let market forces determine wage levels, and you do want to prevent the French clubs from spending so much of their large incomes on players, how on earth do you want to set player wages?


Is the problem that NZ can’t pay so much as the Top 14 and you fear the best players will be lured away and/or you want NZ franchises to compete for leading international talent? Are you asking for NZ wage scales to be adopted as the maximum allowed, to achieve this? But in that case why not take Uruguay, or Spain, or Tonga or Samoa as the standard, so Samoa, a highly talented rugby nation, can keep Samoan players in Samoa, not see them leave for higher wages in NZ and elsewhere.

Rugby is played in lots of countries, with hugely varying levels of financial backing etc. Obviously, it’s more difficult for some than others, but aside for a limited amount of help from world rugby, it’s up to each one to make their sums add up, and make the most of the particular advantages their nation/club/franchise has. SA are not the richest, but are still highly successful, and I don’t hear them complaining about Top14 wages.


Many, particularly second tier, nations benefit from the Top14, and anyone genuinely concerned about the whole community of world rugby should welcome that. England and NZ have laid down rules so they can’t make the most of the French competition, which is up to them. But unlike some NZ fans and pundits, the English aren’t generally blaming their own woes on the French, rather they want reform of the English structure, and some are calling for lessons to learned from their neighbours across the channel. If NZ fans aren’t satisfied, I suggest they call for internal reform, not try to make the French scapegoats.


In my opinion, a breach of standards would be to include on your team players who beat up women, not to regularly send a B team on the summer tours for reasons of player welfare, which in all the years you’ve been doing this only some of the pundits and fans of a single country have made a stink about.


[my comments here are, of course, not aimed at all NZ fans and pundits]

266 Go to comments
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