Waratahs plan winning charge into finals in quest for more Super Rugby silverware

THE Waratahs know they’re not the 2014 premiership side, but they’re building a campaign around competing for every single moment in their quest for more Super Rugby silverware.

The Waratahs celebrate their 2014 title. Picture: Getty

FOUR years after claiming their maiden Super Rugby premiership, the Waratahs know they’re not that team. Yet.

While the conquerors of 2014, boasting forward behemoths in Wycliff Palu, Dave Dennis, Jacques Potgieter and Will Skelton have been replaced by lighter, more agile, more technical players, the results differ markedly.

The premiership-winning side claimed eight consecutive victories as they stormed to the minor premiership, then won the semi and final in Sydney.

The Waratahs celebrate their 2014 title. Picture: Getty

This Tahs team is on track to win the Australian conference and could host a semi-final in Sydney with four consecutive wins.

But they also lost three out of four games against Kiwi rivals not long ago, and experienced halfback Nick Phipps understands the differences.

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“The culture and mentality we’ve driven around the group this year, off the back of two pretty lean years, it’s great to be finally seeing that fruition,” Phipps said.

“To see the boys confident in the way they play but also really hungry to do the dirty, hard stuff at the bottom of rucks and working hard, constantly making sure they’re doing the best for the team.

“In the last few years we lost that hunger for those little moments that you’ve got to win. Competing for every little single contest on the field is something really important to us, and that’s been driven through our squad by some of our senior players.

Nick Phipps says the team is getting down and dirty on their quest for the title. Picture: Getty

“Comparing to ’14, we had that unbelievable run, seven or eight games in a row. This year we’ve had to work a lot harder for it, we’ve had some great games, we’ve had some off games.

“There’s games that we probably should have won, and games we really had to grind out to win.

“Looking at the season so far, it’s a good spot to be in, but I still feel the growth and the run we want to have towards the back end is still ahead of us.”

That starts against the Sunwolves on Saturday night.

“The boys that played in ’14 final are hungry to get back there, and then also the boys that haven’t played finals footy before with us, they’re hungry to taste that and really be put in the cauldron and enjoy that finals mentality,” Phipps said.

“It’s great that we’ve got experience on both sides of the ball there, so we can inform and help people through that, but also the enthusiasm from the blokes who haven’t been there before is infectious around the group.”

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Originally published as Waratahs plan winning charge into finals in quest for more Super Rugby silverware