Waratahs determined to ignore poor record in New Zealand as they take on a fired up Chiefs outfit

THE Waratahs say they’ll have to shake off baggage of the past NSW teams to beat the Chiefs in New Plymouth on Saturday.

Jacques Potgieter during Waratahs training at Moore Park.

THE Waratahs say they’ll have to shake off baggage of the past NSW teams to beat the Chiefs in New Plymouth on Saturday, and breaking a four-year drought in New Zealand.

But ticking off a major goal of the season with a win across the Tasman became much harder last weekend, according to the Tahs, when the Hurricanes humbled the Chiefs 45-8 in Wellington.

“I think they will have made them angry,” NSW lock Jacques Potgieter said.

“The Chiefs are a very good side, a top quality outfit and they’re going to go back to the drawing boards and think what they did wrong. They will come out this week and do everything correct.”

NSW Backs coach Daryl Gibson echoed the sentiment, saying the reigning champions would be stinging from their worst defeat in years.

“Obviously hurt men come out hard and it is going to make our task even more difficult,” he said.

NSW haven’t won in New Zealand since May 2010, when they beat the Chiefs in Hamilton. Since then they’ve lost eight straight.

“Obviously we are carrying some baggage of previous Waratahs teams across the Tasman,” Gibson said.

“For us, part of our transformation process becoming the team we want to become, winning in New Zealand is part of that. We see that as the greatest challenge of our season, which we are eager to take up.

“Over the last year and a half we have tried to transform ourselves into a winning team, and adopt the behaviours of winning teams. We came pretty close last year against the Crusaders, losing at the death. For us it will be a good measure of exactly where we’re at, and how far we’ve progressed as a team.”

The Waratahs have delayed naming their team but it appears there will be minimal change to the side who beat the Rebels last week. Potigieter and Will Skelton may alternate again.

Gibson said the Canes’ big win over the Chiefs wasn’t an accurate picture of the flow of the game.

“The Hurricanes played with a lot adventure and a lot of their things came off. I don’t think the Chiefs played that badly. They looked a little bit like us against the Blues, they had all the play and made mistakes at crucial times,” he said.

“We are not reading too much into that. We know the Chiefs will be absolutely up for this game.”