Andrew Slack: Waratahs find magic by looking to the past as big win over Reds shows

SO LONG a disappointment, the Waratahs look to have ­decided to go back so they can go forward.

SO LONG a disappointment, the Waratahs look to have ­decided to go back so they can go forward.

Last night’s demolition of the Reds was borne of two eras long gone.

Precisely why other teams haven’t borrowed from the same remnants of history is something of a mystery, but such plagiarism might end up all the rage, if the Waratahs continue to perform as they did at ANZ Stadium.

News_Image_File: Peter Betham celebrates a try for the Waratahs. Picture: Mark Evans

When an Australian Schoolboys’ team took the rugby world by storm in 1977, their magic wasn’t simply because they had a bunch of footballing freaks such as the Ella brothers, Wally Lewis, Mick O’Connor and others, it was because coach Geoff Mould had an obsession with flat-line attack.

NSW coach Michael Cheika may be Mould’s rugby love child. Playing that way does have risks, one of which was obvious last night in the number of forward passes that were thrown, but it makes more sense to note the number of tries that were scored.

Like the ’77 schoolboys, there’s a bit of talent in this bunch of blue boys, but flat-line attack won’t work without the skills shown by that wonderful Brumbies outfit of the late ’90s and early 2000s.

Gregan, Larkham, Finegan and company did what they did because the passing was “for” the man, not “at” him.

News_Rich_Media: Waratah's head coach Michael Cheika plays down his sides fantastic win over rivals the Queensland Reds.

Add flat-line attack to precision passing, put it on the back of a forward pack that more than holds its own at the set play, and there’s major potential for success.

Reds supporters will be disappointed and they have every right to be, but there are times when you just have to say the others were too good.

If you can manage to get the other team to stop playing and start looking, you are home and hosed. That’s what the Reds were reduced to last night — spectators.

Some of it, of course, was their own doing. Beaten in areas which you must dominate, such as the breakdown and the halves, will always put you on the scaffold with a noose around your neck.

Perhaps the best thing Richard Graham can take out of Saturday night’s 32-5 shellacking is that the last time the ­Waratahs had success against the Reds, the score was similar, 30-5.

News_Rich_Media: A visibly disappointed Reds head coach Richard Graham believes it was simply a case of giving away too much in teh second half.

That was in 2011, and the Reds then went on to win the Super 15 title that year. In 2014, they’ll need major improvement to repeat.

The Waratahs don’t. They just need to keep on doing what they’re doing.

The longer the season goes, of course, the more the Waratahs’ opponents will wise up to their tactics and try to find ways of thwarting them. With the talent at Cheika’s disposal, that will be more easily considered than put into practice.