Jobs are on the line at the Waratahs this season after a below par 2020
The pressure is one of the biggest rugby franchises in Australia this season but new Waratahs captain Jake Gordon has a message for the doubters.
New Waratahs captain Jake Gordon has a message for the doubters after a horror show 2020 Super Rugby AU campaign for one of the biggest clubs in the land.
The first-year skipper believes the under-pressure outfit can surprise many and win the second edition of the all-Australian competition which starts next weekend.
And wins are a must for the Tahs.
The 2020 turmoil at the club, which won just four games and missed the finals, has continued into 2021 with general manager Tim Rapp set to leave next month after almost seven years at the club.
It continues a tsunami of departures in recent years from the Waratahs including former CEO Andrew Hore and coach Daryl Gibson, who each abruptly resigned in late 2019.
Rapp’s relationship with second-year head coach Rob Penney had soured deeply and Penney came within an inch of being sacked in 2020.
It’s understood the New Zealander would have been out of a job had they not won their final match of the rejigged Super Rugby AU season against the Rebels.
NSW Rugby CEO Paul Doorn moved to shore-up Penney’s support on Tuesday, but the former Munster coach will recognise the importance of making an early impression in 2021 after last year’s disaster, where they made their worst start to a Super Rugby season in the club’s history before COVID-19 brought the season to a sudden halt.
The Waratahs made steady progress in the makeshift Super Rugby AU season, but the jury is still out on Penney after they failed to finish in the top three of the new five-team competition.
Waiting in the wings is former Junior Wallabies coach Jason Gilmore, who joined the Waratahs midway through 2020 as defence coach.
Making the task all the more difficult for the Waratahs is the departures of Wallabies trio Rob Simmons, Tom Robertson and Karmichael Hunt.
They will be without Test skipper Michael Hooper (sabbatical) for 2021 too.
Speaking at the Super Rugby AU launch on Wednesday morning, first-year captain Gordon said despite the turnover of key players the expectation remained to win.
“We wouldn‘t do pre-season or train this hard to come second,” the 27-year-old said.
“If we perform every week, we‘ll win the competition.
“The way we want to play and the blueprint we have there, we can beat the best.
“I think in the last four rounds of that Super Rugby AU competition was really how we want to play; the team we had we got some great results from that.”
Penney will get the chance to see how his side is faring on Friday night when they play the Queensland Reds in a pre-season clash in Narrabri.
It will be their only hitout before they meet one another in the competition opener on February 19 in Brisbane.
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