Paddy Ryan was in barnstorming form against the Cheetahs last week – Photo: Carl Peterson

by Paul Cook –

Waratahs head coach Michael Cheika has rung the changes again for today’s crucial game against the Blues as his side look to kick-start their season with victory. Continuing his policy of giving everyone a fair crack of the whip and a chance to prove themselves, he has tinkered with the back line once more as he tries to find the best formula available in order to execute the brand of footy he is trying to implement at Moore Park.

Injury forces Berrick Barnes out of the picture and his spot goes to Rob Horne, who will be shifting in one position from his accustomed outside centre role. Drew Mitchell returns after his one week sabbatical of ‘re-evaluation’ and he will be sure to have a point to prove. His inclusion moves one of last week’s stand-outs in the loss to the Cheetahs, Peter Betham, to the other wing as Lachie Turner drops out of the matchday 22 entirely and Tom Kingston earns a recall to the bench.

Man-of-the-match against the Cheetahs was prop Paddy Ryan and he felt that despite the frustrating defeat, the team were getting closer to putting together the match performance that they are working hard all week in training to try and achieve. “That last thirty of the first half is probably the style of footy we’re looking to play for eighty minutes,” he says. “We haven’t done that yet, we’ve done it in patches against Queensland, in the second half against the Rebels and for thirty minutes of the first half against the Cheetahs and that’s really disappointing but we’re going to sort it out.”

Wallaby winger Drew Mitchell returns to the team with a point to prove – Photo: Carl Peterson

The team is going through such a transition under Cheika that it appears to be purely a question of time before the players fully adapt to the new style and we see them fire on all cylinders but another defeat could see the season drift away before they’ve even found their new feet. Ryan agrees.

“It’s coming and it can’t come quick enough. I don’t think there was any stage of the [Cheetahs] game where we didn’t try but there were stages of the game where we weren’t effective because we perhaps didn’t trust in each other or didn’t believe in what we were doing and lost our way a bit and that’s got to change. We’re fit enough to do what we need to do, we’ve just got to trust it and do it. We want to win games, the coach is giving us a way to do it and we’re trying, there’s just a bit of anxiety in closing it out.”

The Blues are also a side in transition under new coach John Kirwan but two wins from their opening three games has bought the ex-All Black a large chunk of leeway and earned his side a burgeoning reputation as a rediscovered attacking force. With eleven tries already on the board and newcomers Frank Halai and George Moala backing up the talented Rene Ranger and Charles Piutau in the back line – all with pace to burn – they offer as many scoring threats as the Cheetahs but Ryan sees that as a positive.

“It’ll be good to play an attacking side again because we won’t have to change a lot. The Blues can attack from anywhere so we’ll be looking to defend all the way across the park and put together that eighty-minute performance.”

He’s also looking forward to experiencing afternoon footy at the Allianz Stadium again. “It’s the best kind of footy you can play in Super Rugby,” he enthuses. “We had two afternoon games here last year, which were amazing, we almost knocked off the Crusaders – generally one of the best sides – and we did knock off the Sharks who finished the season as runners-up. Hopefully, we get a good crowd that comes out with plenty of families, we’re all really excited about that.”

HSBC WARATAHS TEAM TO PLAY THE BLUES

Sunday March 24, 2013 – Allianz Stadium (kick off 4.05pm)

1. Benn Robinson (Eastwood)

2. John Ulugia (Eastern Suburbs)

3. Paddy Ryan (Sydney University)

4. Sitaleki Timani (Southern Districts)

5. Kane Douglas (Southern Districts)

6. Dave Dennis (Sydney University, captain)

7. Michael Hooper (Manly)

8. Pat McCutcheon (Sydney University)

9. Brendan McKibbin (Eastern Suburbs)

10. Bernard Foley (Sydney University)

11. Drew Mitchell (Balmain)

12. Rob Horne (Southern Districts)

13. Adam Ashley-Cooper (Northern Suburbs)

14. Peter Betham (Sydney University)

15. Israel Folau (Sydney University)

Replacements

16. Luke Holmes (Warringah)

17. Sekope Kepu (Randwick)

18. Mitchell Chapman (Eastern Suburbs)

19. Jed Holloway (Southern Districts)

20. Matt Lucas (Manly)

21. Ben Volavola (Southern Districts)

22. Tom Kingston (Sydney University)