A Brumbies-Waratahs quarter-final is the game that NSW want.
Well, coach Darren Coleman certainly wanted it last year, dubbing it a battle to decide the best team in Australia, and the same thoughts will be going through his head now.
He almost got his wish last year, before the Brumbies fell to a surprise loss to Moana Pasifika, knocking them down the ladder and meaning they hosted the Hurricanes in the quarter-finals, not the Waratahs.
But don’t rule it out this year, despite the Waratahs currently sitting second from bottom. There were enough signs in the loss to the Brumbies that they are turning the corner.
They should beat the Force, with a bonus point, on Saturday. Rugby Australia has a decision to make about rugby in Western Australia, because at the moment they are a patchwork quilt of travelling Kiwis, Englishmen and an Argentinian, effectively underfunded to a significant degree because their Wallabies top-ups are a fraction of what the eastern states get. But that’s for another day.
The Waratahs finally have selection continuity, their tight five drew a line in the sand against the Brumbies in terms of what their standards are, and Izaia Perese is due a big game. His exclusion from Eddie Jones’ first Wallabies squad went under the radar, but even though Perese likely saw it coming he would have been stung to see ‘his’ spot go to the 21-year Josh Flook, who probably isn’t quite ready for Test rugby yet.
The Waratahs should be looking to win six of their remaining eight games, starting with the Force on Saturday.Credit: Getty
Perese has, in part, been a victim of the Waratahs’ slow start to the season but he also needs to demand that he gets the ball in his hands. Until that Brumbies game, his side had been guilty of being far too passive.
The Force match is the first of the Waratahs’ eight remaining games, and six of those should be winnable. The schedule is: Force (home), Blues (away), Highlanders (home), Reds (away), Rebels (home), Fijian Drua (home), Crusaders (away), Moana Pasifika (home).
The critical game may be the Highlanders at home. Super Rugby Pacific is very much a two-tiered competition, with a ‘top five’ and ‘the rest’, but the Waratahs and Highlanders look the most likely of the rest to be able to bridge the gap. Both would need a bit of luck and a kinder run with injuries, but both could go to Canberra in the first week of the finals as definite underdogs but not without hope.
The danger for the Waratahs is not to get too far ahead of themselves, as we have done here. They may think of themselves as better than what the ladder shows, but if they go into the Force game with that attitude it spells danger.
Zach Kibirige will help to ensure the Waratahs don’t have it all their own way.Credit: Getty
Both the Highlanders and Hurricanes clocked off at the end of their wins against the Force, and Simon Cron’s side put a heap of late points on them to deny them bonus points. No.11 Zach Kibirige is an old-school finisher with plenty of pace, and second-rower Jeremy Williams grew enormously on their three-game tour of New Zealand. The ex-Waratah will have a point to prove, and big Siosifa Amone and Felix Kalapu are athletes to watch off the bench.
The challenge for the Force is not necessarily the calibre of their individuals, it’s that they have so few established combinations due a few injuries and the difficulties they have with recruitment and retention.
The Waratahs have no such worries and the familiarity of their midfield pairing, their Wallabies hooker-second-rower combination and Lachie Swinton and Michael Hooper in the back row should give them an edge.
With the Reds in a state of flux, Australia needs the Waratahs to go on a run. As good as the Brumbies are, they will never be the commercial engine for Australian rugby in the same way the Waratahs or Reds can be. Coleman doesn’t need that extra pressure, but it is what it is. His job may not be as important as Jones’ but it’s in the same neighbourhood.
They’re good enough to do it. They say the competition ladder never lies but at the halfway point it is capable of telling fibs. A third Brumbies-Waratahs game this season? It’s possible.
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