Super Rugby: Waratahs sink to new low with error-riddled loss to Melbourne Rebels
Please don’t show the latest hilarious Waratahs performance to Joseph Suaalii. The code’s superstar signing is just 16 and there’s parts of the match that he shouldn’t be old enough to view.
Super Rugby
Don't miss out on the headlines from Super Rugby. Followed categories will be added to My News.
If you need some comic relief to help get through the lockdown, then watch a replay of Friday night’s Super Rugby AU clash between the Waratahs and the Rebels.
But please don’t show it to Joseph Suaalii because the code’s superstar signing is just 16 and there’s parts of the match that can only be described as X-rated.
If you don’t laugh you’ll cry because surely the joke’s on everyone who thought the competition had turned the corner after last weekend’s two cracking matches.
Super Rugby returns! Watch every game of Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Aotearoa Live & On-Demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
The Rebels 29-10 win over the Tahs at the Sydney Cricket Ground wasn’t just a backward step for the tournament, it was slapstick rugby at its most hilarious.
That’s the only explanation for a match that was riddled with errors from start to finish and managed to surpass the dire draw between the Rebels and Reds at Brookvale Oval two weeks ago as the lowest point of the season.
NO EXCUSES
At least the Rebels and the Reds could blame the foul weather for contributing to their borefest but there wasn’t a single drop of rain on Friday night so the players need only look in the mirror for the perpetrators.
The only try the Waratahs scored was an intercept by Alex Newsome in the sixth minute after he pounced on Reece Hodge’s poor offload to Marika Koroibete, who scored a try right at the end when he finally got some space to build up a bit of steam and break through NSW’s feeble defence.
The Rebels’ only other try came through their halfback Ryan Louwrens, who was driven over the line after he picked up from the back of the scrum before the break.
All the remaining points came from the boot of Matt Toomua, who had his best game of the competition to stake his claim as the early favourite to wear the No. 10 jersey when the Wallabies start playing Tests in October.
BOYS BEHAVING BADLY
If the Waratahs want to be taken seriously they need to get their discipline right.
Rob Penney has been pulling his hair trying to get his players to stop shooting themselves in the foot by giving away so many dopey penalties but no-one seems to be listening.
The old idiom that if you’re good enough then you’re old enough means there’s no longer any excuses for the young rookies but the old heads were just as guilty.
Michael Hooper has been NSW’s best player by a country mile this season but the Wallaby skipper’s yellow card just before halftime cost his side dearly as the Rebels piled on 10 unanswered points.
And the less said the better about Jed Hollway’s sin binning after he had just came on the field.
CROWD ENTERTAINER
His own coaches have likened him to a “hippo on skates” and Pone Fa’amaluli is certainly living up to that dubious description.
His bullocking runs and monster hits for the Rebels have turned him into an instant cult hero with fans everywhere.
The 130kg tight-head Samoan-born prop is a throwback to 1980s rugby league – running up the guts at every opportunity.
He’s had problems with his weight and fitness in the past but was just about out of gas by halftime so was taken off early in the second half but he least added a few bright spots to the dreary spectacle with six carries and beating five tackles.