NSW Waratahs hoping to rebuild daunting home venue, starting with Bulls clash on Saturday

NSW players hope a re-emerging sense of “Fortress Waratah” at Allianz Stadium can help them home in a season-defining clash with the Bulls.

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 12: Benn Robinson of the Waratahs looks on as the Force take a conversion kick during the round nine Super Rugby match between the Force and the Waratahs at nib Stadium on April 12, 2014 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

NSW players hope a re-emerging sense of “Fortress Waratah” at Allianz Stadium can help them home in a season-defining clash with bogey side the Bulls on Saturday night.

Though it only marks the halfway point of the season, the Tahs know the home game shapes as the pivotal moment for their finals aspirations; win and they’re alive at 5-3, but lose and they’re drifting with 4 wins and 4 losses.

“This could very much determine how we end up at the end of the season, this result on Saturday night,” centre Adam Ashley-Cooper said.

“The statistics show you have to win at home to make the finals, and off the back of disappointing loss last week, this game is more important than ever.”

The Waratahs will be gunning for their seventh straight home win at Allianz and ANZ Stadiums and if the stated goal of a top-two finish is realistic, victory is effectively a non-negotiable.

The history books show one thing emphatically when it comes to determining Super Rugby champions: a team must win all home games to be any real hope of lifting silverware.

Since Super Rugby began in 1996, the six sides who’ve won titles have collectively lost just eight games from 112 home fixtures. Eight games in 18 seasons.

Picking up away wins is also important of course, but those same champions had just 72 collective wins on the road, proving points on your own patch are the crucial bankers.

After boasting a formidable home record for the majority of Super Rugby, the Waratahs’ fortress was reduced to rubble in 2012 with just two wins in eight home games.

Last year the rebuilding process began, however, with six wins from eight games and after three more home wins this season, the Waratah players are running out an inch or two taller once again.News_Rich_Media: The NSW Waratahs can be pleased with their work in the first half of the 2014 Super Rugby season, sitting just a bonus point win off the top of the Australian conference and fifth over all after completing their tough South African assignment already.

“When I first arrived at the club, we had a very strong at home and the last couple of years we have been building that back up,” prop Benn Robinson said.

“I don’t know the exact numbers but I feel like the fans can feel that as well.

“The players, it is a different game for us for some reason, we lift with the fans getting involved, and there are more people here for us now. We get really excited to play those games.

“The more consistent we are across the park with our set-piece work, with our attacking and our defence, the more results we are going to get.”

The Waratahs only need consult their own history books to gauge the importance of winning all, or near-all, their home games.

In the six seasons NSW have made the finals, they won either 100 per cent of games at home or, at most, dropped a solitary match.

In 2009, the Tahs missed the finals after dropping dozy home games early in the year that even a strong run on the road late in the year couldn’t overcome.

Wins on the road appear increasingly hard to come by in Super Rugby, however, and since the introduction of the conference system in 2011, the all-important top-two finish (and home final) again relies on home dominance. The Reds, Stormers, Chiefs and Bulls have had 41 of 48 collective home wins.

Despite NSW’s assurance of a strengthening home record — they are closing on the all-time win streak of 11 games — the Bulls will arrive at Allianz Stadium with equal confidence.

They haven’t lost to the Waratahs in eight games, and have won every game at Allianz Stadium since 2005.

CHAMPIONS since 1996

Home: 104 wins from 112 games (92%)

Away: 76 wins from 112 games (67%)

Total: 180 wins 224 games (80%)

WARATAHS

Home wins

1996: 4/5 (80%)

1997: 3/6 (50%

1998: 5/5 (100%)

1999: 2/6 (33%)

2000: 2/6 (33%)

2001: 5/6 (83%)

2002: 5/5 (100%) -finals

2003: 3/5 (60%)

2004: 3/5 (60%

2005: 5/6 (83%) - finals

2006: 5/6 (83%) - finals

2007: 2/7 (28%)

2008 6/6 (100%) - finals

2009: 4/7 (57%)

2010: 6/6 (100%) - finals

2011: 7/8 (87%) - finals

2012: 2/8 (25%)

2013: 6/8 (75%)

2014*: 3/3 (100%)