Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'We're in a hole': Woeful Waratahs succumb to worst-ever start to Super Rugby following Rebels defeat

Jack Maddocks and the Waratahs. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

Waratahs skipper Rob Simmons has conceded his team are “in a hole” after their winless start to the Super Rugby season continued with a demoralising loss to the Melbourne Rebels.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Waratahs’ six-game domination of the Rebels ended with a 24-10 loss at AAMI Park, giving Melbourne their first victory of the season.

The Sydneysiders struggled in the Melbourne rain, with coach Rob Penney saying they were unable to build any pressure with 19 unforced errors, which has become a worrying trend.

Continue reading below…

Video Spacer

Simmons admitted the players were struggling after three successive losses, which is their worst ever start to a Super Rugby season.

“I think we all know we’re in a hole, we’re zero and three,” Simmons said.

“There’s no way out of it except to fight our way out so we have to stick in there and keep learning and keep fronting up week to week.

“We’re trying to learn from each week and grow and improve. It was disappointing as we had a good chance to make an improvement and we let ourselves down.

“We’re doing some good things but then we let it slip.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Wallabies fullback Kurtley Beale looked most likely to create something through the match but was guilty of some costly handling errors.

Their new halves combination of Will Harrison and Jake Gordon were also outplayed by Matt Toomua, who had his best match in Rebels colours, and Ryan Louwrens.

With a bye next week, Penney felt only time and hard work would solve their woes and help build confidence.

“There’s a group there that’s lacking a bit of confidence which is understandable so it won’t be a revolution,” he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It will just be picking bodies and minds up and trying to get them in a position where they feel they can contribute meaningfully.

They at least emerged unscathed on the injury front.

– AAP

In other news:

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 2 hours 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
LONG READ
LONG READ Freddie Thomas: 'OMFG, I've been selected for Wales - my mum was bawling her eyes out' Freddie Thomas: 'OMFG, I've been selected for Wales - my mum was bawling her eyes out'
Search