Berrick Barnes blames players for switching off in Waratahs loss to Rebels

BERRICK Barnes admitted the Waratahs started to read their own good press and mentally switched off in their shock defeat to Melbourne.

tahs rebels

BERRICK Barnes admitted the Waratahs started to read their own good press and mentally switched off in their shock defeat to Melbourne.

The 24-22 loss on Friday night has virtually shut the gate on any playoff hopes for the Waratahs, who have not missed the finals for two straight years since 2004.

"You get a few nice articles written about you, blokes start to read the stories," Barnes said.

"We knew how important this game was. It's one of those things, you get on a roll and you don't turn up mentally and you get bitten on the butt.

"It's a learning point, we have a lot of experienced players, you don't expect that (good publicity) to be a big thing. We have been up for the last couple of weeks but mentally we weren't on the money against the Rebels."

Following a record win against the Southern Kings, NSW defeated the Stormers and Brumbies to climb towards the top six, but Melbourne were more desperate and claimed the Weary Dunlop Shield for the first time in six attempts.

Barnes was subbed in the second half due to cramping in his calf and hamstring but should be fit to face the Crusaders this Friday.

There are no major injury concerns for NSW, who have not beaten the Crusaders in Christchurch since 2004.

While the Tahs have shown this year they can win with their backs against the wall, as they did against the Blues, Chiefs, Stormers and Brumbies, Barnes said that record was irrelevant.

"The past means jack, we'd never lost to the Rebels, we were supposed to beat them and that didn't happen," Barnes said.

"It means nothing. It is how we go about it in our preparation and our mental application this week, because we're bitterly disappointed with the result.

"The Crusaders are coming off a loss so they'll be seething as well, both sides have got a lot to prove."

Barnes predicted a week of training ground punishment by coach Michael Cheika, who slammed predictions a fortnight ago that his side could feature in the finals if they won all their remaining games.

"We didn't have any finals chances before this (Melbourne) game, I don't know why people kept saying we were a chance for the finals," Cheika said.

"We were dreaming if we're thinking of making the finals in our first year of trying to get back together. We need to get our attitude, our identity and our shape of game clear.

"I never spoke about finals, but everyone else wants to. I'm not the speech police, I don't tell (the players) what to say, maybe they did (talk about the finals), but they're learning.

"Experience is the best teacher. There was a lot of people backslapping and saying we're going good, it's getting better, you've got to learn to play with that and be just as hard, if not harder.

"We're not at that level yet. I knew that, but everyone wanted to tell me otherwise. We're going to have to wallow in that defeat and rebuild ourselves back for the game on Friday night.

"The result never bothers me, the attitude we take into the game is what it's all about. The result is just a consequence of that, and we didn't take the right attitude into the game."

"I don't think it's the opposition, I think it's that people were telling us we're going okay."

Tahs skipper Dave Dennis added: "I sensed that there were a few guys who weren't there during the week, probably thought it was just going to happen.

"We talked about overcoming that, and it obviously didn't happen. It all had to do with the fact we'd had three wins (in succession), we were playing a team we'd never lost to, that's what I think it was, we took it a bit easy."