Fickle fans: Hardly anyone showed up for Waratahs’ amazing comeback

THE Waratahs pulled off one of their greatest comebacks to beat the Highlanders but hardly anyone turned up - and it could’ve been the last time fans got to see the Waratahs play at the famous stadium.

Rows of empty seats took the shine off a famous win for the Waratahs. Picture: Getty

THE Waratahs may be winning games again but they’ve clearly still got some work to do to win back their fickle supporters.

If Saturday’s phenomenal win over the Highlanders proves to be the last rugby match played at Allianz Stadium before the bulldozers knock the joint down, then it was a match befitting the occasion.

What a shame hardly anyone turned up to see it.

For the 12,067 true believers in attendance, it was a game for the ages, full of drama and escalating tension and iced with one of the best comebacks the Waratahs have pulled off in years.

Rows of empty seats took the shine off a famous win for the Waratahs. Picture: Getty

“If that’s the last game we play in that stadium, it’s a pretty good one,” the Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson said. “What I loved was that the people who turned up really got behind this team.”

Even so, the rows of blue empty seats were a pitiful way for the Waratahs to sign off at the same stadium that has been their home since Super Rugby started in 1996.

The Waratahs have still not settled on where they will play their home matches in 2019 with the SCG, Brookvale Oval and Parramatta Stadium among some of the options being considered.

FINAL FRONTIER: South Africa curse confronting Tahs

Just why the team’s supporters deserted them in their hour of need is open to conjecture. They’ve struggled badly in recent years but have turned things around this season, winning the Australian conference and finishing third on the ladder to book a home quarter-final.

Still lacking consistency, they have a brittle defence but one of the best attacking line-ups in the competition, with hulking winger Taqele Naiyaravoro scoring a club record 15 tries before he heads off to Northampton.

Israel Folau may have also played his last game at home for the Tahs with the fullback understood to be close to signing off on a deal to join Queensland, though NSW want to keep him.

Folau was among a battered and bruised squad that has jetted out to South Africa to face the Lions, with lock Ryan McCauley and centre Irae Simone joining the 23 that knocked off the Highlanders on Saturday.

Lock Rob Simmons and No. 8 Michael Wells were also on the flight though both have to pass tests before being cleared to play in next weekend’s semi-final in Johannesburg after suffering head knocks.

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Originally published as Fickle fans: Hardly anyone showed up for Waratahs’ amazing comeback