Waratahs dreaming of a home final, say Moana a ‘bigger challenge’ than Crusaders

Fresh off a brilliant win over the Crusaders, the Waratahs are daring to dream big, with coach Darren Coleman revealing the team has set its sights on a top-four finish and securing a quarter-final berth.

However, Coleman believes Saturday’s match against Moana Pasifika will pose an even greater challenge than last weekend’s Crusaders clash.

Momentum is building at the Waratahs after their upset 24-21 win over the Crusaders. The men in sky blue have won six of their 10 matches this season and sit in sixth position, a stark contrast to last year when they lost all 13 matches, often by heavy margins.

Eight of Super Rugby Pacific’s 12 teams will qualify for quarter-finals and the Waratahs are certain to make the top eight.

However, a top-four finish is not impossible, with Coleman eyeing off a first home final for the Waratahs since 2018. NSW, who have four regular-season matches left, could leapfrog the Queensland Reds this weekend.

“My goal at the start of the year was top eight,” Coleman said. “We’re now starting to look up the ladder. Reds and the Chiefs are the next ones above us. We’d love to be able to catch them. [Our mentality is] game by game but we haven’t totally dismissed the notion of getting a home final and sneaking into fourth. Why not?

“We’ve got Moana and Highlanders, who are both below us on the ladder, and we’ve got the Hurricanes at home. We’ll go a game at a time and dream big and have a shot at it.”

The Waratahs have never faced the last-placed Moana Pasifika, one of two new teams in the competition.

Despite being without Michael Hooper (concussion) and Harry Johnson-Holmes (knee), the Waratahs should come away from Auckland victorious if they execute to their potential.

But Coleman raised eyebrows on Thursday by suggesting Moana could cause more headaches for his side than the Crusaders, purely given the home support expected at Mt Smart Stadium.

Waratahs players celebrating after beating the Crusaders.Credit: Getty

“I reckon this is a bigger challenge,” Coleman said. “The emotional get-up for the Crusaders was pretty easy. That home crowd, what we’re trying to build at home … that’s easy to sell that.

“We’re going to be against a team that will have a little bit more of an emotional lift. I’ve got to come up with some tricks between now and then to get our boys emotionally engaged in it. We’ve got to keep them away from our tryline and don’t give them the energy they need.

“We’ve got to play good field position and keep the emotional energy away from them.”

The two most recognisable faces in Moana’s team are former Wallabies representatives Sekope Kepu and No.10 Christian Lealiifano.

Former Waratahs prop Sekope Kepu will line up for Moana on Saturday. Credit: Getty

Kepu, who won a Super Rugby title with the Waratahs in 2014, will face his former team for the first time and go head-to-head with Wallabies prop Angus Bell.

Returning Waratahs hooker Dave Porecki, who has signed a contract extension until 2024, said Kepu was a formidable presence in a team that would look to “bully” the Tahs.

“I think he’s too experienced for someone like me to rattle him,” Porecki said. “I know what makes him tick. I think that’s a little bit of an advantage for us. He’s just very experienced and a traditional tight-head prop. He’s a strong scrummager, he’s good around the field. It’ll be weird but funny [playing against him].”

Asked what made Kepu tick, Porecki said: “If he gets dominance early, he is pretty much impossible to stop. He’s a very strong tight-head scrummager so if you nullify him early - that’s for Belly and myself to do early - you can discourage him from being so dominant throughout the game.”

Watch every match of the Super Rugby Pacific on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Continues this weekend with Reds v Highlanders (Friday 7:15pm AEST), Moana Pasifika v Waratahs (Saturday 2:15pm AEST), Chiefs v Brumbies (Saturday 4:30pm AEST) and Force v Crusaders (Saturday 7:15pm AEST). All streaming ad-free, live and on demand only on Stan Sport.