Waratahs to host Crusaders in Super Rugby final after beating Brumbies 26-8 at Allianz Stadium
THE Waratahs will host the Crusaders in the Super Rugby final after beating the Brumbies 26-8 in an epic clash at Allianz Stadium.
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HISTORY beckons.
The Waratahs are one win away from securing their first Super Rugby premiership after storming to a 26-8 semi-final win over the Brumbies in front of a raucous audience that hasn’t embraced rugby in NSW so passionately since the glory days of a decade ago.
NSW face the Crusaders in next Saturday’s grand final at ANZ Stadium. The Tahs have only made two deciders before and lost both to the Crusaders, in 2005 and 2008.
But the defensive fortitude shown by the Tahs at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night will give them immense confidence for the 80 minutes between them and their maiden title.
Waratahs v Brumbies: Relive all the action at match centre — scores, stats and video highlights
NSW saved numerous try-scoring opportunities by the Brumbies in a tireless effort spearheaded by halfback Nick Phipps, leading coach Michael Cheika to declare that his side was “the patron saint of lost causes”.
“We never give up,” Cheika said.
“We put them into touch in the corner three or four times, and the workrate is something we really want to pride ourselves on and it doesn’t matter if they score, they’ve got to score out in the corner, if we can stop them we’ve got to push everything we can, just chase everything down.
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“We specifically sought someone (Nathan Grey) to come in and dedicate themselves to the defence and contact area.
“It’s something we knew we wanted to improve if we wanted to be real competitors.
But it will be no easy task next Saturday judging by the Crusaders’ 38-6 demolition of the Sharks; an utterly emphatic, superior demonstration of power and precision rugby that had the hallmarks of the great Christchurch teams.
“It is going to be very difficult,” Cheika said of the seven-time champions.
Waratahs beat Brumbies: Watch full highlights of the thrilling Super Rugby semi-final
“They’ve probably been in a million finals, they have some experience, we will be relative debutants.”
Yet as the Tahs have shown time and again in their run of eight successive wins, they are rarely fazed, or dominated in contact.
NSW captain Michael Hooper typified his side’s never-say-die effort with a man-of-the-match performance.
“We’ve been in a few pressure situations before, we had the Highlanders game to take [the minor premiership], that was a big pressure situation for us, and tonight, so we’ve built a bit of experience now,” Hooper said.
“Obviously a new one going into finals for a lot of us, but we’ve got a former Crusader (assistant coach Daryl Gibson) to help out with that, our guys who played in finals to help out.
“You’re drawing on their knowledge to see how it was, how it’s been and what you need to do to get the title.”
This three-tries-to-one victory was sealed in a fashion typical of this new Waratahs team, unafraid of risk and reward.
Holding a 19-8 lead with five minutes remaining, and with the Brumbies pressing in attack, NSW turned the ball over. Instead of the safety of the touchline, the Tahs turned on the style from within their own 22 as Israel Folau went wide before passing inside to Rob Horne.
The winger found a rampaging Will Skelton, who swatted away three tacklers before passing to five-eighth Bernard Foley who galloped to the tryline in front of his delirious faithful.
Playing in their first home semi-final since 2008, and in front of their biggest home crowd (38,800) since 2005, the Waratahs held last year’s losing grand finalists scoreless in the second half, underscoring the strength of their defence.
Kurtley Beale’s 47th minute try gave NSW a crucial buffer from which the Brumbies did not recover.
“That’s some of the most involvement I’ve heard from a crowd in my playing time, it’s really cool to be here in Sydney and the crowd having that effect on us,” Hooper said.
“Hopefully there is more of that next week. The crowd has swung me tonight in how much they can play a good role in your on-field performance.”
It was a brutally physical match of flying bodies, rib-rattling defence and shoves aplenty,
The scrums were shared with both sides pushing each other off the ball, but NSW’s lineout woes continued as they lost four of their own throws.
NSW led 8-0, the Brumbies evened up the scores, the Tahs kicked ahead just before the break,
Christian Lealiifano’s struggles with the boot continued, with the centre missing a regulation penalty goal early in the second half that would have levelled the scores at 11-all.
NSW then pushed the Brumbies’ scrum backwards 10 metres, earning a penalty. They took it upfield, and Adam Ashley-Cooper put a grubber behind the rushing defensive line. Jesse Mogg picked up the ball but Beale ripped it from his grasp and raced 20 metres to the line, rising and pumping his chest as the packed stadium went hysteric.
It went south for the Canberra side thereafter.
Robbie Coleman dropped the ball over the sideline as Phipps, who was superb in cover defence throughout the night, came across in the 52nd minute, and then star winger Henry Speight, who scored the Brumbies’ only try, was forced off the field with a leg injury.
The battle between rival enforcers Jacques Potgieter and Scott Fardy was fierce.
Coach Michael Cheika sprung the surprise of replacing Kane Douglas with Will Skelton, meaning the rare sight of the giant and Potgieter tag-teaming together until the South African was replaced with 12 minutes remaining.
The last time these sides met in a semi-final, the Brumbies thumped NSW 51-10 at the same ground.
This time there would be no denying the boys in blue.
Leading 11-8 at half-time, the minor premiers scored three tries in all to seal the triumph.
Just three minutes in, Alofa Alofa scooped up a loose pass from Nic White and raced more than 60 metres to score the opening try.
The Brumbies had forward momentum but White miscalculated the intention of his runners, and passed between Sam Carter and Tevita Kuridrani on the edge of the field. Alofa raced on to the ball after one bounce and raced downfield with Mogg in hot pursuit and the Tahs faithful roaring him on.
Just as Mogg appeared to be gaining, Alofa cut in on the try-line and dived over. Foley missed the conversion from out wide.
Yet the Tahs conceded scrum penalties in the 11th and 15th minutes as the Brumbies’ front-row went to work, giving the visitors opportunity to venture into their territory.
But NSW won one against the feed in the 20th, and from an ensuing penalty they worked it to the middle of the field where the Brumbies infringed again, setting up an easy penalty goal for Foley.
The 8-0 scoreline looked a good platform for the Waratahs to pile on a decent lead, especially when Hooper smashed Mogg backwards on the halfway line moments later to earn another penalty.
But the lineout was lost, and from that point the Brumbies turned on the screws.
From midway through the first half, the Brumbies had all the territory and forced infringements but refused to kick for penalty goal on three occasions as they sought a hit-back try.
The gamble paid off when Speight crossed in the corner in the 31st minute, after eight minutes of persistent attack.
In the decisive play, the Brumbies forwards surged at the line of the field relentlessly, drawing in NSW’s defenders.
White spotted the enormous gaps out wide and flung the ball to Matt Toomua, who threw a long ball to the unmarked Speight.
Beale raced across in cover, but too late to stop Speight’s trademark swan-dive over the line in the corner.
Lealiifano missed the sideline conversion, but struck a penalty a minute from the break to bring the sides level.
The Brumbies conceded a penalty from the kick-off, however, allowing Foley to edge his side ahead by three points at the break.
NSW WARATAHS 26 (Alofa Alofa, Kurtley Beale, Bernard Foley tries Foley con 3 pens) bt ACT BRUMBIES 8 (Henry Speight try Christian Leali’ifano pen) at Allianz Stadium. Referee: Jaco Peyper. Crowd: 38,800.
Waratahs v Brumbies: Replay all the action from Allianz Stadium with our match blog
Originally published as Waratahs to host Crusaders in Super Rugby final after beating Brumbies 26-8 at Allianz Stadium
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