Bernard Foley says NSW Waratahs must play freely to break 14-year Crusaders hoodoo

AFTER losing to New Zealand’s worst team at home, the Waratahs must now cross The Ditch to tackle their greatest Super Rugby rival — and the odds are firmly against the boys in blue.

Bernard Foley remains confident the Waratahs can snap two horror streaks.

IT has been two years since an Australian team beat a New Zealand team in Super Rugby, but it has been 14 years since the Waratahs defeated the Crusaders in Christchurch.

To end both of those wretched streaks this Saturday, Tahs playmaker Bernard Foley has declared his team must “play free” against the top-of-the-table defending champions.

The last time NSW won in Christchurch was 2004, and among the tryscorers that day were Mat Rogers, Milton Thaiday, and Wallabies assistant coach Nathan Grey.

Twitter had not been invented then, so the people now venting about the Kiwis’ 38-match winning run over Aussie sides would have had to call talkback radio to make their anger known to the general public.

Bernard Foley remains confident the Waratahs can snap two horror streaks.

Anger and disillusionment filled the air as Tahs fans made their way out of Brookvale Oval last Saturday night, their side having been beaten 24-21 by New Zealand’s lowest placed side the Blues.

But, Foley said, this is not the time for the team to also lower their heads.

“It’s about enjoying the grind, and not feeling that pressure, going there [to Christchurch], playing free, playing the style we want to play,” Foley said.

“Their pack is littered with All Blacks, they’re a sound team and off the back of that forward pack they won the competition last year.

BRAIN SNAP: The method behind Beale’s moment of madness

“For us it’s setting the platform, really matching them and our forward pack has shown that they want to work, they want to have that fight.

“It’s nothing new to us, these forwards love that challenge and I’m sure they’re going to lift for it.”

“Systems and processes” are the boring terms bandied about these days by sports teams, but nevertheless, a lack of trust in these has led to Australia’s rotten form against their trans-Tasman rivals since May 2016, Foley said.

“The belief to stick to what we want to be doing, the belief to sticking to the game plan and the execution, and just trusting that it will come, that’s where I think we’ve probably just lacked a little bit,” Foley said.

“We’ve wavered in those little, critical moments rather than be really sure of ourselves.

“That’s just hard work, instilling that belief in training, knowing guys are doing the work, then it will happen in those big games.

“A lot of it is composure, just backing the system and what we’ve trained.

Nick Phipps pleads with his teammates to lift.

“Even if you feel unfulfilled the first time, you go back and you do it the second time. You don’t go away from what we prepare for, and you don’t try to solve it on your own.

“Teams are too good now in Super Rugby to allow individuals to go out there and win matches, you’ve got to back the guys around you, the 14 other teammates on the field, and that’s how we’ll get the win.”

After winning four games in a row, NSW has suffered back-to-back losses, with the Crusaders, Otago Highlanders and Waikato Chiefs to come in a season-defining three weeks.

Originally published as Bernard Foley says NSW Waratahs must play freely to break 14-year Crusaders hoodoo