Waratahs lost to Queensland because they lacked smarts, not toughness

The apparent singling out of prop Taniela Tupou for not contributing to the Waratahs’ maul defence against the Queensland Reds week is a dangerous path to go down.

The Waratahs lost last week because they lacked smarts, not necessarily toughness, and perhaps also leadership when it mattered – something alluded to by stand-in skipper Hugh Sinclair after the game, when he ruefully volunteered on the Stan Sport coverage that it had been a tough introduction to the captaincy.

While the sight of Tupou running alongside an advancing Reds maul looked bad, there is genuine context to be applied to that situation and the broader trend that emerged from the game.

The real flaw in that Waratahs maul defence was caused by the three-man pod at the back of lineout, of which Tupou was part, not reading the play.

No.8 Leafi Talataina actually turns his back on the Reds throw in the expectation that he will lift second-rower Ben Grant, who therefore is also effectively out of the maul defence effort.

But the Reds went to the front of the lineout and started their 20-metre advance to the line, effectively taking Talataina, Grant and Tupou out of the play.

Taniela Tupou has been unfairly singled out for blame.Credit: Getty Images

Sure, Tupou could then have sprinted back to add his weight to the effort, but it’s highly debatable whether that would have stopped the try – the damage had been caused by the original misread.

So, why did the Waratahs not see what was coming? Because the Reds are unpredictable – even to coaches who study them.

For example, when asked this week what the Reds would bring to Dunedin on Saturday, Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph said he didn’t quite know because they had played very differently against the Waratahs than they did the week before against the Crusaders.

Tupou had actually contributed effectively to some maul defence just the incident that was highlighted, so ticker is not the question.

Reds players celebrate after Angus Blyth goes over for a try.Credit: Getty Images

Instead, the Waratahs were caught on the hop last week because they thought the Reds were going to run, not maul, and their in-game problem-solving, which had been so good before Brisbane, somewhat fell apart.

The Reds’ first try was the perfect example of this, with no one in the backfield to cover for the sin-binned Andrew Kellaway, allowing Reds No.15 Heremaia Murray to score an easy try with a simple chip over the top.

That try encapsulated the loss better than the Tupou incident, and you can’t overstate the loss of captain Jake Gordon on this Waratahs team.

Last week’s No.9-No.10 combination of Teddy Wilson and Lawson Creighton have barely played together, and that lack of experience down the spine wasn’t helped when Kellaway won the ultimate Pyrrhic victory – dominating Harry Wilson physically in a heavy tackle but leaving his side badly compromised due to the yellow card that ensued.

Charlie Gamble was another who gave away an easy penalty against the Reds, with his hands clearly on the ground before he grabbed at the ball (ironically this led to the Reds’ maul try).

The Waratahs need to be a lot smarter against the Brumbies on Saturday. If there is one thing that is becoming apparent about the Brumbies this year, it’s that they will challenge everyone’s decision-making due to the quality of their back three.

Tom Wright, Corey Toole and Andy Muirhead are right up there as a combination, with Muirhead in particular in good form. Collectively, they will present a massive challenge to the Waratahs because – just like the Reds – the former predictability of the Brumbies is becoming a distant memory.

They’re as likely to run as they are to maul and while their forwards have not lost the capacity to get stuck into the dirty work, as they showed against the Blues in the second half at Eden Park, they’ve made a fundamental shift in how they approach the game because they know that Wright is now an elite player in a bit of space.

I don’t think the Waratahs’ “softness” is their problem, and even though Tupou isn’t at his best, yet he’s not the issue either. But they have lost plenty of IP over the past two or three years with the exits of Michael Hooper and Jed Holloway, and Gordon’s current injury has compounded that issue.

They need to be smarter, not just tougher, and not point the finger at one bloke for an issue that went a bit deeper last week.

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