0
Just deserts as NSW serve up poor fare
Greg Growden | March 14, 2009
MEDIOCRITY eventually had to be punished.
The Waratahs had got away for far too long this season with playing mundane, snooze-inducing rugby, and they suffered the consequences when the Brumbies exposed their many frailties last night.
If your hackneyed, midfield kicking game is off-key, as it was with the Waratahs at Canberra Stadium, you are in big trouble. You are also in enormous strife if the passes suddenly don't stick, you can't kick with any sense of direction, key players have brain explosions, the luck runs out, there is no plan B and your only ally is the referee, who gives you an incredible leg-up.
You are also toying with danger when you select players with injuries, as the Waratahs did last night when they included Wycliff Palu, despite a fracture in his left hand. It always comes back to haunt you, especially when NSW's hooker, Tatafu Polota-Nau, also had to continue playing, despite suffering a hideous head knock the previous round against the Reds.
You can get away with these dubious tactics for only so long, and for NSW it hit them last night when their unbeaten run ended in mind-shattering circumstances. Adding to the visitors' exasperation was that for most of the night their opponents weren't exactly brilliant. The Brumbies also seemed keen to show off their inadequacies, but they kept it together at the right time to shut the Waratahs down to just one try, and win through two second-half tries.
Maybe it was the early match psych-out that had the Waratahs all aquiver. Just metres away from where the Waratahs did their pre-match drills, the electronic scoreboard was playing Brumbies' try after try from previous NSW encounters. Larkham, Gregan, Mortlock, Fenukitau, Smith, Gerrard . . . they were cutting them to pieces.
Or maybe it was everywhere the Waratahs looked they were surrounded by Brumbies. Even the South African touch judge Pro Legoete, who just loved thrusting out his flag, was a George Gregan lookalike.
Whatever it was, the Waratahs were in a complete tizz during the first half.
First, Luke Burgess wasted a great first-minute NSW thrust when after several midfield charges he spoiled all that good momentum with an aimless box kick into the quarter that went straight down ACT fullback Mark Gerrard's throat. What was the point of that?
It didn't help shortly after when Burgess obviously saw someone he knew on the Brumbies reserves bench and decided to pass to him, missing three teammates and embarrassingly hurtling it over the sideline.
Then fullback Sam Norton-Knight wanted to be part of Comedy Capers by belting the ball out on the full. Adding to the chaos was that Waratahs goalkicker Kurtley Beale lost his bearings, believing that the target was the goal-post, smashing two shots in a row into the right upright, missing another, until at his fourth easy attempt he at last potted one.
This was becoming a complete embarrassment and the Brumbies weren't helping an average spectacle by also playing blunderathon football, which made it so much easier for the Waratahs defensive line.
And the Waratahs, who do love moaning about the referee, have no reason to whinge about the whistleblower, because South Africa's Mark Lawrence was forever sympathetic to their cause.
The occasional thrill and relentless spills continued in the second half, but Stirling Mortlock and Adam Ashley-Cooper at least succeeded in turning Lote Tuqiri around to score.
Then ACT prop Ben Alexander showed off his beavering skills to put the win beyond doubt.
But there were still too many baffling and unsatisfying moments to make this match memorable.
No wonder Robbie Deans and co must be relieved that if this is the best Australian rugby can offer, thank goodness the Wallabies don't have to play for several more months. It can only pick up.
At the moment what is on offer from the four Australian teams is not exactly enlightening. Lukewarm porridge is a more apt description.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...e#contentSwap1