Days after being told he wouldn’t be offered a contract extension for next season, Darren Coleman says the Waratahs playing group feels “awful” after claiming the wooden spoon for the first time in a proper Super Rugby season.
At the end of a difficult week, the Waratahs’ season went from bad to diabolical on Saturday evening in Auckland as Moana Pasifika celebrated their biggest win in Super Rugby.
A 27-12 defeat consigned the Waratahs to an 11th loss from 13 matches in a forgettable season for so many reasons. The Crusaders’ 29-27 victory over the Blues later in the day ensured NSW will finish the season bottom of the ladder.
Remarkably, they could’ve played finals if they’d managed two bonus-point wins in their last two games and other results went their way.
Super Rugby Pacific officials are under pressure to have a serious rethink about the competition structure, which rewards mediocrity by allowing eight of 12 teams to play finals.
Instead, the Waratahs remain in last place (12 points), behind Moana (18) and the Crusaders (19).
Lotu Inisi of Moana Pasifika scores a try against the Waratahs.Credit: Getty
A winless year in 2021 was as bad as it got for the Waratahs but those defeats came during COVID when the Super Rugby competition structure was tweaked due to border restrictions.
Since 1996, the Waratahs have never been wooden spooners in a fully fledged Super Rugby competition.
“They feel pretty awful about where we are,” Coleman said. “There’s good players in there. They don’t just become bad players. They’re down on confidence. Some players have gone backwards under my leadership this season, which hurts me to say.
“That’ll fuel their fire for the rest of their careers.”
This latest defeat – NSW trailed 27-0 with 16 minutes remaining – is more salt in the wound for Coleman, who hasn’t been able to get NSW firing after back-to-back sixth places in 2022 and 2023.
Players were told on Monday that Coleman was out of a job next year, with Michael Cheika and Nathan Grey firming as favourites for the job.
“The boys were sad and probably a bit frustrated,” Waratahs skipper Jake Gordon said. “Darren has been incredible this week, the way he has attacked it. Credit to him.
“Darren’s care and the amount of effort he put into this team is second to none. We have a really good relationship with Darren. It’s never a good thing to see a person who cares so much for the club have to move on.”
Coleman said of the preparation: “It was different. I lost my job. That doesn’t happen every week. It was a bit emotional at the start of the week, but the boys were good.”
The Waratahs have one more game this season against the Queensland Reds – at home in Sydney on Friday night – to salvage some pride at the end of a season where little has gone right. Regular Wallabies representatives might pay the price for a horror run when new coach Joe Schmidt names his maiden Australian squad next month.
“We’ve got to wipe this pretty quick. We’re desperate to finish on a high,” Coleman said.
“The skill execution at times was poor and it hurt us. We left points out there. Our scrum was under pressure in the first half. We didn’t quit. We denied them a bonus point, which we tried hard to get. We’re just not a good football team.”
