Brendan Cannon: NSW Waratahs must muscle up to subdue Melbourne Rebels

SUNDAY’S derby between the NSW Waratahs and the Melbourne Rebels will tell us if the early-season Australian conference frontrunners are the real deal says BRENDAN CANNON.

Will Genia congratulated Jack Maddocks after his try. Picture: Getty Images

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CONFERENCE derbies carry more significance than just the points on offer.

Winning means you move yourself up the ladder and simultaneously force one of your rivals to stand still.

Psychologically, it doubles down too. You improve and build confidence, they get dusted and must pick up the pieces next week.

The Waratahs-Rebels clash at Allianz Stadium is big on all of these fronts.

It’s still early days and while everyone is excited about the Rebels being at the pointy end of the table, is it is a justifiable position, because of the opposition they’ve played?

Rebels Will Genia and Jack Maddocks celebrate a try. Picture: Getty Images

The further into the Super Rugby season they go, the more we will understand whether they are the real deal. The result in Sydney will go a long way to showing that.

Make no mistake, it’s a really hard game for the Waratahs.

Coming home from Africa and Argentina is the hardest leg in footy and they’re up against a monstrous forward pack in the Rebels, and a backline that has very handy skills.

One major challenge the Waratahs have had is no one is bending the line. There is not a brutal ball carrier in their forward pack. There are a lot of triers, and you can’t fault the effort. But what you can fault is how effective they are in a one-on-one contact situation.

What they need to do to generate momentum and speed is work the shoulders of the defence. Not try and run over the hump, but work the side of the hump. Hitting the weak shoulder of the tackler is going to get you that momentum and ascendancy.

The Waratahs forwards have to impose themselves with the ball. Picture: AAP

Their footwork has to be better and awareness going into contact has to be so much sharper, and the lazy option of just skin-on-skin, mano-a-mano, it ain’t getting results. They’re getting rag-dolled by every defence.

Rob Simmons really has to step up. He is a big raw-boned country boy, he has to impose a shadow because of his presence on the field. Sekope Kepu needs to stand up as far as carrying and defence goes, too.

Jed Holloway is a much bigger guy than you imagine as well. He should be using his size and feet more.

The Rebels are clearly a much bigger forward pack than NSW.

Being a lighter pack has less-obvious disadvantages than just the one-on-one contact stuff.

You lose so much energy trying to survive every single set-piece, trying to repel driving mauls and so on.

You just have to work harder to get half a result, where other packs can do it with less effort.

You are under pressure, physically and emotionally, and that taps you out hard as far as power in your next ball carry goes.

So the key is to try and get to a shoulder, rather than run over a body.

What brings the big, big guys back to the field is anaerobic distress. If you play a high-tempo game against a big pack and you keep the tempo up, then their lung capacity is tested and they get tired. And then they become pliable, and you can start to manipulate them.

Take them to a place they’re uncomfortable and keep them there.

But if you don’t test them by playing super-fast, up-tempo footy, then the arm-wrestle plays into their hands.

The Waratahs have spoken about their fitness this year. They’ve come into 2018 as fit as ever.

Now is the time to show us.

Test the Rebels, smoke them out. Say: “You want to beat us? First you have to run with us”.

Originally published as Brendan Cannon: NSW Waratahs must muscle up to subdue Melbourne Rebels