The NSW Waratahs’ finals hopes are all but over after being towelled up by the Crusaders 48-33 in Sydney on Friday night.
Needing a miracle to scrape into the top six, the Waratahs failed to turn up. Then again, nor did their fans either, with only 11,284 showing up as Sydneysiders flocked next door to the SCG to watch the Swans.
The Crusaders came in hot though, scoring five tries in the first half to take a 31-7 lead into half-time.
Waratahs coach Dan McKellar summed up the first-half disaster, saying it was “a pretty passive defensive display”.
“We’ve just got run hard, tackle hard, and show that we actually care,” he added.
Sterner words were to come.
While the Waratahs staged a mini fightback, it was a case of two steps forward and one backward in the second half as the home side failed to take their chances after cutting the deficit to ten points.
“We pretty much did everything we said we weren’t going to do,” Waratahs captain Jake Gordon said.
Gordon wasn’t wrong.
The Waratahs lost the collisions early on and simply couldn’t slow the visitors’ ruck speed down, while their midfield routinely made the wrong decision and forced too much pressure on the outside backs.
Once again Langi Gleeson was the home side’s best forward, while Angus Bell toiled hard. Taniela Tupou took another step forward, too.
But there were positives coming out of a night that the Waratahs hoped to keep their season alive after three straight defeats.
Now they will have to head to Perth next Saturday to take on the Force to ensure they don’t lose five on the trot.
“Going into tonight, the destiny was probably in our hands but that’s probably not the case now,” McKellar said.
“But it’s more than a weekly thing here, this is change we need to make that will set the place up for years to come.”
McKellar added that the defeat was “incredibly disappointing” and “the first 40 minutes was tough to watch”.
Lions hopeful James O’Connor was the only Australian smiling, with the Crusaders playmaker coming off the bench to deliver a fine cameo.
The veteran Wallaby produced a trysaving tackle on Triston Reilly, banged over a penalty and set up the Crusaders’ last try to Tom Christie.
His coach, Rob Penney, was so impressed he cheekily told encouraged his compatriot Joe Schmidt to pick O’Connor against the Lions.
“The next Australian ten for the Lions series?” said Penney, after being asked about O’Connor’s contribution to the Crusaders.
“No, he’s great value for us. He’s awesome, both on and off the park.”
James O’Connor’s amazing season for the Crusaders continued against the Waratahs on Friday night. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
The win was not only a sweet one for Penney because he was sacked by the Waratahs early in his second season in charge in 2021, it also came after losing a handful of Test stars over the past week including All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, hooker Codie Taylor and fullback Will Jordan.
“I’m just proud of the boys, the effort that they put in, they got the rewards,” he said.
“Really pleasing for the group, especially after we had a wee bit of disruption during the week, short turnaround, and to come here and win I’m rapt.”
The Crusaders clinically exposed the Waratahs early with Johnny McNicholl scoring after just three minutes after some lovely manipulation from the visitors.
The same couldn’t be said about the home side’s attack though as Triston Reilly was intercepted by Braydon Ennor, who ran away to give the Crusaders a 12-0 lead after ten minutes.
Then the New Zealand heavyweights added a third try after 16 minutes when hooker Ioane Moananu scored from the rolling maul.
While Gleeson scored his first of two tries for the evening to get the Waratahs on the scoreboard after 22 minutes, tries to winger Chay Fihaki and loose-forward Cullen Grace meant the home side went into the sheds trailing by 24 points.
The Waratahs came out of the blocks firing in the second half by scoring two early tries through Gleeson and lock Miles Amatosero.
But Gleeson’s knock on from the kick off slowed their comeback.
Some poor defence from Joey Walton and Gordon then allowed Rivez Reihana to burst through the Waratahs’ front-line defence, before Sevu Reece did what he does best by backing up and scoring. His 65th try saw him join TJ Perenara as the competition’s all-time high tryscorer.
The Waratahs however refused to go away, with Darby Lancaster managing to score out wide despite the hint of a knock-on.
But some O’Connor magic allowed the Crusaders to restore their 20 point lead after 78 minutes, before Reilly scored out wide after a lovely cross-field kick from Jack Bowen.
The defeat left the Waratahs languishing in eighth spot on 22 points, five points behind the sixth-placed Blues.
Meanwhile, the Crusaders moved up into equal top spot alongside the Chiefs on 41 points, but the Brumbies will have the chance to go ahead when they host the Reds on Saturday night.
