Benn Robinson earned ‘Man of the Match’ honours as the Waratahs came from behind to claim their first win of the 2013 season – Photo: Carl Peterson

by Brendan Bradford –

Another slow start left the Waratahs with everything to do against the Rebels at Allianz Stadium on Friday, but a great second-half performance staved off another Australian derby defeat as the Tahs claimed a 31-26 victory.

After trading early penalties, the Rebels dominated the territory and possession stats as a disorganised Tahs defence gave away penalty after penalty before referee Rohan Hoffman finally issued a caution when Tom Carter took out Scott Higginbotham in the air.

Two minutes later, the Tahs were down to 14 men when Tatafu Polota-Nau was caught on the wrong side of the ruck. They were quickly down 13-3 on the scoreboard too as Rebels hooker Ged Robinson scored a try from a lineout play off the resulting penalty.

Tatafu Polota-Nau was back to his bulwarking best – Photo: Carl Peterson

Further penalties from James O’Connor and McKibbin made the halftime score 16-6 to the visitors while the Tahs faithful began to worry another humiliating home defeat was on the cards.

A halftime gee-up by coach Michael Cheika and some smart substitutions sparked the Waratahs into life in the second half though.

“Sometimes the game conspires to go a certain way,” said Cheika after the match.

“We started off quite well then made a few mistakes around the set piece and that gave us bad position, then that whole incident with the yellow card, we couldn’t get any type of foothold in the game. We still have a lot of scratchy moments and we’re still very raw and guys are getting their heads around it.”

Ben Volavola came on for Tom Kingston just after the break while Folau moved to the wing where he seemed more at home and better able to inject himself into the attacking line.

Volavola was the spark the Tahs needed and offered another avenue of attack in addition to Bernard Foley, but it was the forwards who really sparked the comeback. Benn Robinson – still looking angry at being left on the bench last weekend – along with Polota-Nau and replacements Lopeti Timani and Paddy Ryan stood out, making meters and opening up space on the edges for Folau and co. to probe.

Off the back of his pack’s momentum, McKibbin made a sniping midfield run before some great support play out wide let Bernard Foley score under the posts in the 57th minute.

After a few early handling errors, Folau grew in stature – especially once he shifted to the wing. His full array of skills were on display as he set-up the second try after hitting a hole close to the line, standing in the tackle and looking for an off-load while sucking in a couple of defenders. His effort gave Michael Hooper a sniff of the line and the openside flanker ducked under Kurtley Beale to notch his first try in the Cambridge blue and give the Waratahs their first lead since McKibbin’s opening penalty an hour before.

Bernard Foley impressed again in the pivot role – Photo: Carl Peterson

The Waratahs completely dominated the second half and Ryan – again immense off the bench – secured the win with a rampaging run to break the defence and burrow over the line for his first Super Rugby try and a 31-19 advantage five minutes before fulltime.

A late Kurtley Beale try closed the gap and earned the Rebels a bonus point, but for the second week in a row, they ran out of steam in the second half.

“This was our game, I think we lost it ourselves,” said O’Connor.

“We were clinical enough when the opportunities were there. Got to play 80 minutes.”

A win is a win for the Waratahs, but there’s plenty to work on.

“I wouldn’t be saying that we delivered anything special,” said Cheika.

“I would say we played at a good standard for a certain period of time and that got us back into the game. Every week we’re trying to add a little bit on, trying not to take any steps backwards and just prove ourselves to our fans.”

This Waratahs side is still a work in progress and while they showed glimpses of their potential throughout the match, they can ill afford another slow start next week against the Brumbies in Canberra.

Waratahs 31 (Bernard Foley, Michael Hooper, Paddy Ryan tries; Brendan McKibbin 2 cons, 4 pens)

Rebels 26 (Ged Robinson, Kurtley Beale tries; James O’Connor 2 cons, 4 pens)