Waratahs reaping rewards of Taqele Naiyaravoro’s fat-club exile during preseason
DARYL Gibson says forcing Taqele Naiyaravoro to train away from the squad in pre-season until he lost weight is now reaping rewards for the giant winger and the Waratahs.
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DARYL Gibson says forcing Taqele Naiyaravoro to train away from the squad in pre-season until he lost weight is now reaping rewards for the giant winger and the Waratahs.
Naiyaravoro is suddenly NSW’s star man, producing an epic performance last weekend when he ran more than 200 metres from eight bursts against the Sunwolves in Tokyo after strong games in the previous two weeks.
The Tahs need Naiyaravoro to continue his rampaging form to defeat Queensland Reds at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday night in a “heritage round” match.
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Coach Gibson was unhappy that Naiyaravoro had ballooned to 136kg during a lazy summer, but the Wallaby winger has trimmed down to 124kg and managed to get his first full game out in Japan after being subbed early in previous weeks.
“The best thing is he got that 80 minutes out, he’ll be better for it, at the moment every time he touches the ball something is happening,” Gibson said.
“He’s breaking tackles, beating defenders, and that’s the kind of form we’re going to need from him if we’re going to keep progressing.
“I’m thrilled for him. He’s had some setbacks, I excluded him from a large part of the pre-season, he got his weight under control, and he’s starting to reap the benefits of that.”
Gibson has named an unchanged starting side from that which defeated the Sunwolves 50-29 and saw them climb into the top six, opting to retain openside specialists Michael Hooper and Will Miller in tandem fetching roles.
The only change is on the bench, where Wallabies halfback Nick Phipps makes his long-awaited return from calf injury, replacing Mitch Short, with Jake Gordon retaining the No.9 jersey.
While NSW has won three in a row for the first time since 2016, and have posted half-century scores in two of those victories, defence is a concern for Gibson.
“Defensively we still are conceding far too many tries, particularly putting a lot of pressure on ourselves through our own poor ball control at times,” he said.
“That’s something we’ve talked about a lot.
“We always knew the Sunwolves were going to be a difficult proposition and the fact that they have got an excellent attack, they played with a lot of variation and without risk, that causes a lot of problems.
“We’re steeling ourselves for what is going to be a very physical encounter.
“We see both teams really trying to transform themselves into really competitive teams and that’s what we’re expecting this weekend.”
NSW TEAM TO FACE QUEENSLAND
Waratahs: 15. Bryce Hegarty 14. Alex Newsome 13. Curtis Rona 12. Kurtley Beale 11. Taqele Naiyaravoro 10. Bernard Foley 9. Jake Gordon 8. Michael Wells 7. Michael Hooper (captain) 6. Will Miller 5. Rob Simmons 4. Ned Hanigan 3. Sekope Kepu 2. Damien Fitzpatrick 1. Tom Robertson.
Reserves: 16. Hugh Roach 17. Harry Johnson-Holmes 18. Paddy Ryan 19. Tom Staniforth 20. Jed Holloway 21. Nick Phipps 22. Lalakai Foketi 23. Cameron Clark.
Originally published as Waratahs reaping rewards of Taqele Naiyaravoro’s fat-club exile during preseason
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