Halfback Nick Phipps to train up until wedding day after Lions hammer Waratahs

AFTER the Waratahs suffered their biggest loss of the season, halfback Nick Phipps has vowed not to take any days off training this bye week despite getting married on Saturday.

Waratahs halfback Nick Phipps won’t miss any training sessions in the lead up to his wedding next week.

AFTER the Waratahs suffered their biggest loss of the season, halfback Nick Phipps has vowed not to take any days off training this bye week despite getting married on Saturday.

Phipps will wed his banker fiance Ebony Bamford in Roseberry next weekend but will not shirk any practice sessions this week as the Tahs reel from their embarrassing 29-0 defeat to Johannesburg’s Lions.

“I wouldn’t ask for [days off], we made sure it wasn’t going to impact any of the training, because as I said to the boss that’s number one - the boss being the missus,’ Phipps said.

MATCH: Waratahs slump to embarrassing defeat

Last Friday’s defeat was the first time NSW had been held scoreless in Super Rugby history, and adding to Phipps’ woes was that teammates in his bridal party - Michael Hooper and Bernard Foley - both took heavy whacks to the face.

Waratahs halfback Nick Phipps won’t miss any training sessions in the lead up to his wedding next week.

Bamford, in the stands at Allianz Stadium for the game, got her point across afterwards.

“She might have pointed out the Hoops had blood running down his eye, she said he’d better fix that up for the photos, she saw Bernard got put to sleep so she said he’d better be right for the wedding,” Phipps said.

“It’s really exciting. I’ve been the young bloke at the club always having a laugh and a joke around with the older boys getting married, it’s going to be fantastic, I’m really looking forward to it.”

But before he walks down the aisle, Phipps will walk into a sombre meeting with the rest of his teammates on Monday.

“It’s a big learning opportunity at this stage in the season, there were a lot of things out there that weren’t our best and not our trademarks and style we want to play,” Phipps said.

“It’s an opportunity for us to really rip it apart, because we were well and truly beaten by the better team.

Nick Phipps with his fiancee Ebony.

“They’re well and truly the benchmark of the competition at the moment, if we want to be up there at the top, they’re the games we’ve got to be better at and learn from.

NSW forwards coach Simon Cron said confusion around defending the Lions’ pre-planned lineout plays, from which they peeled off and scored two tries, was a key issue.

“We had some maul D, the maul D was stopping them dead but we’ve also got a defensive system outside of that, and as soon as they bounced, one or two guys had come in when they shouldn’t have and it just opens a hole,” Cron said.

“I think the role clarity around what your job is in that scenario, we got wrong.

“There’s a lot the boys need to learn from that game, all it takes is for one to two guys to get their role wrong in any defensive system around, for example a maul, and they bounce and get a try on you.

“We’ve got to fix those things.

“We need to go through every individual and say what can we do better, because you can’t afford to play like that, and let a team play like that. You can’t give them too much respect, and we gave them too much respect.”

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Originally published as Halfback Nick Phipps to train up until wedding day after Lions hammer Waratahs