Super Rugby 2025: Woeful Waratahs fail to find their mojo away from home, beaten by Fijian Drua
Unbeaten in five matches at home this season, it is a stark contrast when the NSW Waratahs leave Sydney, with another loss on foreign soil.
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There has been so much to admire about the way the Waratahs have raised their game at home this season after the debacle of 2024.
Dead last on the ladder 12 months ago, the Waratahs are still in with a chance of making the playoffs this year, thanks entirely to their perfect record at Allianz Stadium.
Unbeaten in five matches on their home turf, New South Wales have looked like world beaters each time they’ve run out on the field in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Last week they beat the competition leaders, the Chiefs.
But like a lot of folk from the posh end of town, the men in light blue completely lose their mojo whenever they venture away from their comfort zone.
In four matches on the road this season, the Waratahs have lost the lot, with the latest, a 28-14 defeat to Fijian Drua in Lautoka on Saturday.
Take nothing away from the Fijians, who are rooted to the bottom of the table. They fully deserved the win, just their second this season.
But this was a match the Waratahs could and should have won and they only have themselves to blame.
They weren’t helped by Australia’s shortsighted rotation policy, which meant a number of key players were rested because someone seems to think that having a week off in April might make an ounce of difference when the Wallabies face the British and Irish Lions in July and August.
NO stopping him 🚫#SuperRugbyPacific#DRUvWARpic.twitter.com/DptsJq9rpR
— Super Rugby Pacific (@SuperRugby) April 19, 2025
If the Waratahs miss the semis, which now seems possible, their Wallaby players will get five weeks off between games so may end up going in cold, highlighting what a flawed concept it really is.
But that’s not the reason the toothless Tahs lost on Easter Saturday. They threw this one away by committing rugby’s two cardinal sins: repeatedly dropping the ball and missing way too many tackles, 37 in total by the time the contest ended.
Even so, trailing 21-14 with 22 minutes left on the clock, the Waratahs still had enough time and chances to win or at least get a draw but failed to do either.
Fittingly, the match ended in farcical circumstances when the Waratahs tried to run the ball out from behind their own line after the Drua missed a long range penalty attempt after the siren had sounded.
But they made such a hash of it that they gave up a penalty try for off-side when Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was deemed to have picked up the ball from an off-side position and issued with a yellow card for his sins.
Hugh Sinclair, the Waratahs’ skipper, didn’t even attempt to sugar-coat the team’s dismal showing.
“It’s a tough place to play footy isn’t it? But it’s awesome with the crowd,” he said.
“Disappointed to not even come away with a point there. Not really sure what happened.
“We put ourselves in a position in the second half (to win) … but they were too good. They played the conditions well.
“We fell off too many tackles in the first half. We just couldn’t claw it back.”
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Originally published as Super Rugby 2025: Woeful Waratahs fail to find their mojo away from home, beaten by Fijian Drua
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