Momentum is an odd concept.
Teams talk about it with reverent passion when approaching the end of
season playoffs or a big tournament, but it's a bit unclear what momentum
actually entails. Is it just picking up
the wins and 'getting the ball rolling' or is it dominant performances, and how
many matches do you have to go through in this way before you can claim to have
'momentum'? Then there's the fact that,
despite yearning all for it all season, once you do have momentum then any slip
up will mean you come down to earth even harder than usual. Think of Leicester's devastating loss to Harlequins
in the final last year after 9 consecutive wins, or John Goodman tripping up
whilst 'sprinting' down a hill. Ouch.
For the Waratahs, 'momentum' is now the hottest word in New
South Wales. Before their match against
the Brumbies in Sydney on Saturday, all the talk was that they had won their
last 2 games, and 3 out of their last 4, but they needed a big W against the
Aussie Conference leaders to really make the breakthrough statement that fans
of Tahs so desperately want. A win would
throw them right into the playoff equation.
For the visitors though, it was a case of looking over their shoulders
as opposed to looking ahead – a month ago, all seemed rosey for the men from
ACT but recently the exciting young side have had a wee bit of a wobble, and
with such a young side, that can have a profound effect on confidence. The battle hardened Reds were now breathing
down their necks at the top of the Australian conference, and only a win would
be certain to keep the Queenslanders at bay.
With so much at stake then, it was perhaps understandable
that the opening stages were a little edgy.
And by edgy, I mean scrappy; and by scrappy, I mean rubbish. The Brumbies were edging the territory battle
in the opening stages but none of their kicks were particularly incisive, with
even the usually-excellent Jesse Mogg culpable of turning the ball over far too
cheaply. A moment of real note – if a
sad one, though – was seeing powerful lock Kane Douglas, mourning the death of
his mother (marked by a minutes silence), escorted from the field after just 30
seconds after suffering a bad concussion. Despite the indifferent standard of rugby
though, the current conference leaders were playing in the hosts half and the
pressure eventually led to a relatively straightforward penalty shot for
Christian Lealiifano to slot, although Waratahs scrumhalf Brendan McKibbin
levelled the scores a couple of minutes later with a 3-pointer of his own.
Then the Brumbies tightened their grip on the game – they were
starting to make inroads, with George Smith making a nuisance out of himself
and Mogg creating a couple of breaks out of thin air. Applying pressure to the Waratah's line,
captain and number 8 Ben Mowen then hit a gorgeous short line off Nic White to
slam in between 2 defenders and touch down for the game's opening try. It went unconverted but, following another
McKibbin penalty, they were soon back over the whitewash. This time it came from a shocking pass from
McKibbin that bobbled along the floor in the hosts' 22, giving the recovering
Drew Mitchell too little time to get his kick away. A solid charge down by Tevita Kuridrani's
backside bounced kindly for the centre, who touched down for the visitors'
second try of the evening. Lealiifano
wasn't having the best of times with the boot, and missed the conversion, but
the ACT side still held a relatively-comfortable 13-6 lead at the halftime
break.
We had seen nothing of the attacking prowess of Foley, Folau
or Ashley Cooper in the opening period – but all that was about to change with
the introduction of Berrick Barnes for the injured Rob Horne (who had impressed
with a couple of powerful runs) after the break. The Waratahs hadn't really looked like threatening
the conference leaders' line but made a big statement at the start of the
second half, with Michael Hooper scooting down the left hand touchline to score
following a delightful fizzing pass from Barnes – and the Wallaby
centre-cum-flyhalf-cum-fullback followed it up with a sweetly-struck conversion,
too, bringing the hosts level before adding a penalty to take them into the
lead for the first time.
Mogg, who still looked dangerous with ball in hand, then
clawed the visitors back into a 6 point lead with 3 penalties in 10 minutes. But by now, the attacking momentum was well
and truly with the hosts and Barnes struck again, this time collecting a sneaky
offload from Hooper when nothing seemed on before ghosting round Ben Mowen and
charging over from 20 metres. The
conversion went wide to leave the hosts 1 point behind, before they grabbed the
decisive score through winger Peter Betham.
This time it was Bernard Foley who was the architect, floating a
beautiful pass to all Betham to get on the outside of Stephen Moore before
stepping inside Robbie Coleman to dive over the line. One conversion and one solid scrum later, the
Tahs had their victory.
Whilst Robbie Deans won't be too chuffed at the outcome
(with potential Wallabies George Smith, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Kane Douglas, Rob
Horne and Pat McCabe all going off with various injuries), the New South Wales
outfit will be pretty chuffed. Statement
made. Ball rolling.
What else was happening across Super Rugby last weekend?
Hurricanes 12 – 17 Chiefs: The Chiefs scraped through a tight
encounter at the "Cake Tin" in Wellington, thanks to the only try of
the game from Tanerau Latimer. The rest
of the visitors' points came courtesy of Aaron Cruden's boot whilst the
Hurricanes had Beauden Barrett to thank for all their points.
Rebels 30 – 21 Stormers: The Rebels grabbed a great win against
South African powerhouses the Stormers in a ding-dong battle in Melbourne. The hosts scored 5-pointers through the irrepressible
Scott Higginbotham and Hugh Pyle, before a late penalty try sealed the
win. The visitors scored 3 tries of
their own through Louis Schreuder, Bryan Habana and Andries Bekker.
Force 13 – 23 Sharks: The Sharks finally broke their awful run
of form with a solid win against the Force in Perth. Sharks' scores from Keegan Daniel and Riaan
Viljoen sandwiched a try for the hosts courtesy of Kyle Godwin.
Crusaders 23 – 3 Blues: The Crusaders took a big step towards
recovering their season by giving the in-form Blues a solid hammering. The visitors went the scoreless but the
Crusaders scored two tries through Ryan Crotty and George Whitelock, with Tom
Taylor kicking the rest of the points.
Bulls 35 – 18 Highlanders: The Bulls earned themselves a bonus point
win with a 4-try hiding of the sorry Highlanders. The hosts grabbed 5-pointers through JJ
Engelbrecht, Akona Ndungane, Pierre Spies and Jano Vermaak, whilst the visitors
managed late efforts via Fumiaki Tanaka and Tamati Ellison.
Cheetahs 27 – 13 Reds: The Reds missed a golden opportunity to
go top of the Australian conference as they were soundly beaten by the
Cheetahs. The Aussies could only manage
a late effort from Ben Lucas but the hosts were out of the traps quickly with
two early scores from scrum half Petrus van Zyl.
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