‘We just played tough’: Waratahs win in New Zealand for first time since 2015

The Waratahs did it tough but have now leapfrogged the Queensland Reds on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder and ended a seven-year winning drought on New Zealand soil with a 26-20 victory over Moana Pasifika on Saturday.

NSW expended a tremendous amount of physical and emotional energy in their 24-21 victory over the Crusaders last Saturday but found a way to return to Australia with four points.

Trailing 17-0 after 22 minutes, the Waratahs refused to go in their shell and showed a desire to spread the ball from edge to edge. Wingers Mark Nawaqanitawase and Dylan Pietsch picked up second-half tries to get NSW back in the contest.

With just over three minutes remaining, Moana, trailing by six points, searched for a match-winning try but knocked the ball on before NSW won a critical scrum penalty while camped on their own tryline to hold on.

“I’m pleased we got away with it because I knew it was going to be a hard game,” said Waratahs coach Darren Coleman. “We could have potentially been perceived as a bit flat after the high we went through [against the Crusaders].

“Obviously you’re concerned at 17-0, but I felt if we could string phases together and passes we could have scored enough points to win it. They were clearly the best team we’ve come up against at the breakdown. We just played tough.”

Mark Nawaqanitawase scores for the Waratahs in their tight win over Moana Pasifika.Credit: Getty

Hopes of a top-four finish and a home final have improved, with NSW (32) now a point ahead of the Reds (31) on the ladder after Queensland’s 27-19 loss to the Highlanders on Saturday night.

NSW had not won a Super Rugby game in New Zealand since April 2015. The four-tries-to-two result might not have been against Kiwi opposition but winning is clearly becoming a habit for NSW, who have seven victories from 11 starts.

“At the start of the year, based off what the boys came off, if you’d offered me sneaking into eighth I would have taken it,” Coleman said. “Now we’re getting a bit greedy and we’re setting our sights on catching the Chiefs, I reckon, and getting a home final.

“I’m chuffed with where we’re sitting and how we’re going.”

NSW skipper Jake Gordon added: “It was really tough. I was really happy with the way we fought back there. It wasn’t pretty.”

The Waratahs hit the front for the first time in the 61st minute courtesy of some outstanding offloads finished off by a Pietsch five-pointer down the left wing.

This is a team playing with confidence under Coleman and their general catch-pass skills – particularly in the forwards – have gone up a notch on last year.

Despite missing prop Harry Johnson-Holmes, the Waratahs had complete dominance at the scrum, while Charlie Gamble made a whopping 24 tackles in another eye-catching performance.

“It’s such a helpful thing when you can get scrum penalties and dominance like we did,” Coleman said.

Coleman warned this week that the challenge of getting up for the Moana match would be far greater than tackling the Crusaders.

It’s much easier when 10,000 fans - mostly Waratahs supporters - are crammed into Leichhardt Oval. Travelling has never been the Waratahs’ strong suit, but they will be mighty pleased at holding out a gritty, physical Moana side who could have easily pinched their second win of the season.

While the crowd wasn’t superb at Mt Smart Stadium, Moana used it to their advantage by kicking an early penalty before tries from Abraham Pole and Levi Aumua gave the home team a 17-0 lead after 22 minutes.

Izaia Perese is mounting a strong case for Wallabies selection in the July Tests against England.Credit: Getty

Enter Izaia Perese. The Waratahs centre is putting forward an irrefutable case to Wallabies coach Dave Rennie for selection against England in July after another terrific performance, which included a try in the 28th minute. He ran 104 metres and beat seven defenders.

Sure, Perese knocked on a couple of times in the first half, but his ability to get over the advantage line and bump off defenders is a real point of difference. The 24-year-old does it game after game.

When hooker Dave Porecki burrowed over the line from close range, the Waratahs had reduced the deficit to three points heading into the sheds.

The Waratahs thought they had hit the lead after the break with a Perese kick and regather finished off by Pietsch before a late TMO call reversed the try.

At the very start of the play, a Moana player put his foot into touch, but it wasn’t picked up on the field.

As far as no-tries go, this was particularly cruel for the Waratahs who deserved a five-pointer for their audacity within their own half.

Former Waratahs prop Sekope Kepu put in a solid 50-minute shift, while Ben Donaldson replaced No.10 Tane Edmed with half an hour to go and was steady.

Meanwhile, Christian Lealiifano became the third Australian player of all-time - and seventh of any nationality - to reach 1000 Super Rugby points. Bernard Foley (1095) and Stirling Mortlock (1036) are the best of the Australians, while All Blacks legend Dan Carter (1708) is No.1 on the overall list.

No Pacific Islands has player reached the magic 1000-point milestone.

The Waratahs will be aiming to make it three wins on the trot when they face the Hurricanes in Sydney next Saturday.

Watch every match of the Super Rugby Pacific on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Continues this weekend with 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.