Bernard Foley celebrates with Mitchell Chapman after slotting the match winning penalty
Photo: Paul Seiser

by Brendan Bradford –

A spirited second half fight back and a last minute penalty to man-of-the-match Bernard Foley in the late afternoon sun earned the Waratahs a courageous 30-27 win over the Blues in Sydney today.

Down 24-10 after an inconsistent first half, the Waratahs outscored the visitors 20 points to three in the second spell as they cut down on mistakes and the Blues tired in the Sydney heat. The win was significant not only because of the comeback, but because of the turnaround following a barrage of criticism after the loss to the Cheetahs last weekend.

“The game’s on fine margins and we could be sitting here having the same result and press conference as last week,” said Waratahs coach Michael Cheika after the game.

“I thought we played a lot better today. We played some really good footy in attack and our defence is improving a little bit more every week – we just made some dumb mistakes. They showed a lot of courage and we had to say ‘right lads, this is the time to get the pace of the game back up and test the Blues out.’ I think towards the end of the game we showed a lot of ticker and our leaders really came to the fore.”

After starting strongly, it was the Blues’ second narrow loss in as many games.

“At halftime we were reasonably happy,” said coach John Kirwan.

“We needed to clean up the ruck area, show a little bit more discipline and hold onto the ball [but] we went out and pretty much did the opposite. The Waratahs came out and showed courage and character. They scored the tries where they needed to, put us under enough pressure and their tournament is back on track.”

Drew Mitchell made a try scoring return to the starting XV – Photo: Karen Watson

To the delight of the 16,429 strong crowd – the biggest of the season – the Waratahs showed great attacking intent from the off. With quick cleanout ball and plenty of willing runners, they played with speed and width to stretch the Blues defence. Bernard Foley and Brendan McKibbin were influential in this endeavour while forwards Paddy Ryan, Sitaleki Timani and Dave Dennis put in a mountain of go-forward work.

In a fast start, the first try – a planned backline move set-up by Foley and McKibbin from a lineout – put Drew Mitchell away in the corner and it was 7-3 after just six minutes.

The Blues hit back straight away when the Tahs made a mess of a line out in their own half and hooker James Parsons dashed down the sideline to put the visitors back in front 10-7.

The home side went on to dominate the opening quarter but could only add a penalty to tie the scores at 10-all after 25 minutes before the Blues began getting into their work.

Having been starved of territory and possession until a heat induced drinks break after 20 minutes, the Blues managed some continuity with a patient, deliberate and dangerous build-up. The Tahs on the other hand seemed to fall apart – almost literally. Despite his pleas to continue after an early knock, McKibbin was taken off injured, Foley was levelled by Rene Ranger and they only managed one more foray into the Blues’ 22 before halftime – where they knocked on.

Blues fly-half Chris Noakes scored his side’s second after he slipped through a gap between Timani and Adam Ashley-Cooper before fullback Charles Piutau grabbed an easy score when replacement halfback Matt Lucas failed to regather a Blues box kick.

As has been the case already this season, handling errors cost the Tahs big-time. Add the ongoing line out woes and they went into the sheds to receive yet another roasting from Cheika.

The fight back started early in the second stanza when Foley stepped through the Blues line and offloaded to Lucas who threw a pass between two defenders to Israel Folau who scored his second Waratahs try.

The equalizer was a long time coming, but after opting for a scrum from an attacking penalty and going through 13 phases, Foley stretched out to score after a penetrating run from Rob Horne.

Sparked into action by his try, Folau linked with replacement winger Tom Kingston on the right wing and earned a penalty to go ahead 27-24. The lead was short lived though as Noakes landed a penalty of his own just two minutes later to set up a nerve-jangling closing period.

Rob Horne grew into his first start at inside centre and was pivotal in the Tahs’ third try
Photo: Karen Watson

After dropping the ball deep in their own half and looking like conceding a try for all money, Mitchell recovered possession, broke the line and put Folau away down the sideline only for indecision – and Piutau – to catch the league convert who spilled the ball in contact.

Remaining patient, the Tahs worked their way back into position and with ten seconds left on the clock, were awarded a penalty straight in front, 35 meters out. With regular kicker McKibbin off, Foley calmly slotted and sent the enthusiastic crowd into raptures.

The win highlighted the changes Cheika is introducing. Kicking was minimal, strategic and accurate for the most part and there was a definite willingness to attack with ball in hand. Foley goes from strength to strength in controlling the game from fly-half while Paddy Ryan and Michael Hooper were again influential. However, some concerns remain. The line out was a mess and a string of first half handling errors contributed to another big half time deficit.

It was far from the perfect game, but it was a win and an entertaining one at that. Next up are the Force for another Sunday afternoon fixture and if the cheers of ‘New South Wales’ near the end of this game were anything to go by, they should have an increasingly optimistic crowd behind them.

Waratahs 30 (Drew Mitchell, Israel Folau, Bernard Foley tries; Bernard Foley 2, Brendan McKibbin cons, Bernard Foley 2, Brendan McKibbin pens)

Blues 27 (James Parsons, Chris Noakes, Charles Piutau tries; Chris Noakes 3 cons, 2 pens)

Crowd – 16,429