Set pieces weren’t as bad as some think, says Waratahs’ prop

After beating themselves up for the last two days about the crushing loss to the Hurricanes, the Waratahs have identified what went right.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 16: Curtis Rona of the Waratahs celebrates with teammates after scoring a try during the round one Super Rugby match between the Waratahs and the Hurricanes at Brookvale Oval on February 16, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

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After beating themselves up for the last two days about everything that went wrong in their season-opening loss to the Hurricanes, the Waratahs are finally starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

While Bernard Foley’s uncharacteristic penalty miss and Tolu Latu’s wonky lineout throws in the last 10 minutes were pivotal in the 20-19 loss, there was still plenty of positives from the first 70 minutes.

Although the Waratahs lost two critical lineouts at the death, they had won 10 of the previous 11 on their own throws and pinched three from the New Zealanders. And after being penalised at the first scrum, they won each of the remaining scrums on their own feed then won a penalty against the Hurricanes that set up Foley’s unsuccessful shot at goal.

Ned Hanigan dominates a lineout against the Hurricanes. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

So, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for a pack that everyone said was too small and too inexperienced to handle the battle-hardened visitors.

“The Hurricanes obviously boast a pretty impressive forward pack and we knew that going into the game,” Waratahs’ prop Harry Johnson-Holmes said.

“For us to put ourselves in a position to win the game, and give our backs the chance to strike and defend well and not be under too much pressure, we knew we had to take it to them and not just absorb everything.

“(So to) actually take it to them in the set piece, I think we did well.”

Karmichael Hunt on the charge against the Hurricanes. (Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

There’s still no escaping the issues at the lineouts, which have been troubling both the Waratahs and the Wallabies for some years now, but it’s not from any lack of trying.

Johnson-Holmes said it’s harder than it looks because there’s so many moving parts and just the slightest mistake can mess everything up but there was no lack of effort to fix it.

“Against opposition like the Hurricanes, who defend so well in the lineout, we’re constantly changing things, we’re constantly having to analyse ourselves and actually ask the questions as to whether or not this is going to actually fool or anyone or it just looks pretty and good on the training paddock,” he said.

Curtis Rona celebrates his try with Sekope Kepu. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Bernard Foley at a Waratahs recovery session. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

“We do a lot of installation stuff throughout the week, just looking at old footage and going ‘hang on this may not work’ or ‘hang on we need something in this part of the field and in this certain scenario’ so it takes a lot of time and (forwards coach) Simon Cron squeezes every last drop out of the time he’s given.”

There were also some encouraging signs with the Waratah’s defence. They did give up two tries from sheer weight of pressure, but it was still a vast improvement on last season when they conceded an average of almost four tries a game, the worst record of the eight teams that made the playoffs.

It was a heartbreaking one-point loss to the Waratahs. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

“It was a decent starting point for us defensively. We had to defend a lot of sets, obviously discipline is something we definitely need to look at,” defence coach Steve Tandy said.

“We conceded too many soft penalties and gave the Hurricanes a little bit too much field position. But I thought the boys fronted up and had to defend for long periods and they played that very well.”