Chiefs punish sloppy Waratahs, finals hopes fading

Waratahs coach Darren Coleman bemoaned a muddled and wasteful second half performance that saw the Chiefs power home to a 38-22 win at Allianz Stadium, and make NSW’s path to the finals just a little bit steeper.

The Waratahs led 12-0 after a dominant opening 20 minutes but didn’t put the foot down, and allowed the Chiefs to claw back to 12-all at halftime. With even more injuries to their already battered front row stocks, NSW set-pieces struggled and eventually fatigue told in their defence, too. The Chiefs outscored the hosts 32-3 between minutes 20 and 40, and a late try wasn’t enough to spark one more fightback in a season of disappointment.

“We start with some good intent, controlled the 40 and put good pressure on them and got some pay,” Coleman said.

“In the 2nd quarter there I was expecting the game was always gonna swing at different times but at half time at 12-all, I thought we were confident, comfortable and knew we had to continue to play well to stay in it. That was probably the disappointing aspect that we didn’t.

“We just didn’t play well in that second half and you just can’t keep giving them that many chances and squander that many chances yourself and expect to beat them. In all facets of the game, particularly in that second half, we’re just a little bit off.

“Our scrum got under a little bit of pressure, a line out at different times. It was a bit clunky. Our game controlling calling in the last 20 caused confusion. That leads to guys trying to solve things by himself, whether it’s a pushed off load or a chip or a couple of handling errors at times there. We just weren’t good enough for long enough.”

To make matters worse, the Waratahs extraordinary run of bad luck with front row injuries continued to get worse. Hayden Thompson-Stringer was a late withdrawal due to a cork, meaning the Tahs had three Shute Shield call-ups - Jay Fonokalafi, Lewis Ponini and debutant Brad Amituanai - on the bench. Tom Ross then injured his medial ligament in the game and is set to miss several games, and Coleman revealed Wallabies hooker Dave Porecki will miss the entire season with an Achilles problem.

Let’s hear from the skippers.

Waratahs - Jake Gordon: The first 40 was a pretty good battle, we controlled field position, we were getting dominance through our maul. The second half probably wasn’t as consitent. We turned the pill over in the wrong side of the field and we allowed their backs to get quality ball. They were too good.
We need to find a way to get down their end a bit more. We knew how dangerous they were with the ball but so it was a balance between giving them possession but also defending well. We probably got the balance wrong in the second half. They challenged really hard (at lineout) and did a really good job.

Chiefs - Kaylum Boshier: It was not the ideal start for us, our discipline let us down. But proud of the way we just stuck at it and grinded our way back into the game, and our attack got going there. Very proud of our efforts.

That’s the final score.

The Waratahs started strongly but rivets popped all over the place after the first quarter, firstly in the set-pieces and then in defence in the second half. Early stat counts have the Tahs missing 27 tackles and making 130.

The Waratahs still aren’t out of the finals picture, in this wacky Super Rugby Pacific competition where 8 of 12 teams make the playoffs. But at 2-7, the Waratahs hopes of mounting any serious challenge for silverware are fading very quickly.

74: Chiefs 38 Waratahs 22

The Tahs had their shot and missed.

The Chiefs didn’t. And that’s the game.

The Waratahs had all the momentum after Swinton’s try but a break by Jed Holloway was followed by a knock on by the reserve forward. The Tahs then gave away a scrum penalty as they tried to put pressure on and turn the ball over.

That led to the Chiefs coming back down to the Waratahs’ end, and another gap emerged in the windy channels near the ruck. Flanker Kaylum Boshier finished off a Narawa break, and that, as they say ladies and gentleman, is that.

65 Chiefs 31 Waratahs 22

Buckle. Up.

It wouldn’t be the Waratahs in 2024 if we didn’t see some sort of fightback, and that wild-eyed peroxide blonde Lachie Swinton has given the home team some hope after scoring a bullocking try.

Repeated charges toward the line were repelled until Swinton refused to take no for an answer, and he muscled his way over.

Hold on tight sports fans.

60: Chiefs 31 Waratahs 15

A couple more missed tackles and another Chiefs try. It’s all just getting a bit too easy for the visitors.

This time no.8 Wallace Sititi took the ball from the back of the scrum five metres out, and Jack Grant and Will Harrison fell off him as he surged to the line.

53: Chiefs 24 Waratahs 15

Hmmm. Did I say close one? Maybe not.

Not if the Waratahs defence serves up too much more of that.

The Chiefs scored a fourth try and was all just a bit too easy, after a loop created a midfield gap for Finau and an offload saw halfback Cortez Ratima burst free behind the Tahs’ defence. His slow stepping was enough to shake off Max Jorgensen, and the cover defence was all wrong footed.

The Waratahs have conceded 24-3 since the 18th minute, and this game is getting away from them.

52: Chiefs 17 Waratahs 15

The Waratahs called on their bench cavalry early, but a strong run from Izzy Perese amounted to nothing when he tried to offload in traffic. In fact, it was worse than nothing - it went straight into the hands of Damian McKenzie, and the Tahs went back on the defensive.

A smart move off a lineout saw too many Waratah defensive misreads - and probably some obstruction if we were playing in the NRL - and the Chiefs scored a third try, to Narawa again.

The Waratahs clawed back a penalty soon after but will need to drum up that fighting quality they’ve shown this year. It’s gonna go down to the wire.

40: Waratahs 12 Chiefs 12

The Waratahs will be disappointed to have given up a 12-0 lead, and in truth, could have been leading by more, not tied up, at halftime.

NSW have shown excellent intent but the Chiefs defence has been strong, and the Tahs let the visitors back in the game with poor execution at the set-pieces. The Chiefs tries were far more easily earned than the Tahs’.

But Darren Coleman has some experience and strength on the bench, and that may prove decisive.

38: Waratahs 12 Chiefs 12

The Waratahs scrum and lineout are pretty off tonight. Indeed, if just one or the other was working properly, the hosts might be up by more.

Several lineouts have gone astray in the Chiefs’ redzone, and the Tahs have been getting dusted in the scrum all over the field. They barely survived a sequence of five scrums five metres out from their own line but it mattered not, because the Chiefs used the platform to spin the wide right and score a second try to Emoni Narawa.

Both flankers had to stay pinned to the scrum, meaning the Tahs had to hold their drift.

Losing most of your first-choice front rowers will be a factor, obviously, but the guys they have on are full-time squad members.