Waratahs face uphill task against Blues to make Super Rugby playoffs

The Kiwi style of attack is ensuring Australian sides are being left behind.

Waratahs winger Taqele Naiyaravoro treceives a yellow card against the Hurricanes.

Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson concedes the high-risk, high-­reward style of game favoured by New Zealand’s Super Rugby teams is confounding Australian sides.

The gap between New Zealand and Australia at Super level has never been greater. With one round to go in the regular season, Australian teams have won just three of 24 games against Kiwi ­opposition.

On the weekend four Australian teams lost to New Zealand sides, conceding 203 points between them, including the Waratahs’ 28-17 loss to the Hurricanes in Sydney last Saturday night, a ­result that has all but ended their hopes of making the playoffs.

“At the moment New Zealand teams are playing with a game style that is troubling Australian defences,” Gibson said. “They are playing with a lot more unstructured, tackle offload, continuity type game. Their ability to keep the ball alive is certainly proving to be a real dividend for the New Zealand teams. They are doing it well.”

With the Brumbies’ 40-15 loss to the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland last Friday night, the Waratahs had a splendid opportunity to finish on top of the Australian ­conference and gain automatic entry to the playoffs.

But now the Waratahs must beat the Blues with a bonus point to have any chance of finishing on top of the conference — unless the Brumbies suffer a major upset loss to the Western Force in Canberra this Saturday night.

And the Waratahs may be without giant winger Taqele ­Naiyaravoro, who was yellow-carded for tackling Hurricanes five-eighth Beauden Barrett in the air but has now been cited for a ­potential red card offence.

Gibson said the New Zealanders’ attacking style had been ­successful, but it also offered ­opportunities to the opposition.

“If you get defence right and set it up well, you can get some opportunity off potentially forcing errors and mistakes,” Gibson said. “Playing with that amount of risk has its fruits, but certainly right now the scoreboard is not lying.

“We have to look at our own strengths. We can’t afford to copy different game styles because at the moment they are working.

“Different styles have their time and if you get good at them you can win rugby. It’s no different at the moment. That style is pretty dominant.”

Veteran Waratahs forward Dave Dennis said they had to adopt an attacking mindset to come away from Auckland with a maximum five competition points, which will be an achievement given the Blues have won 13 of their past 15 home games against Australian opposition.

“We have to win with a bonus point in Auckland to have any chance,” Dennis said. “We have to stay positive. Turn up on Monday and get stuck in. We are playing for that finals spot still.

“History aside, we need five points over there. If we start thinking of those stats, it’s not going to help our cause. We have to go over there and win well.

“It suits us well. We are a team that likes to attack. The other side to that is defence. The Blues showed how well they could score with offloading. We have to ­defend well, but also go in with an attacking mindset.”

The Waratahs led 17-11 early in the second half on Saturday night but the Hurricanes scored 17 ­unanswered points to secure the win and a wildcard entry to the playoffs.