watching the Waratahs take on the defending champions the Chiefs, a few thoughts ran through my mind.
Can the Tahs make the play-offs? Can the Tahs play this well week in, week out or was it just a one off win? And do the Tahs have the players to play the attack minded, running rugby that is demanded by head coach Michael Cheika?
Sadly, especially considering that I'm a Waratahs fan, the answer to all three of the above questions was - after a long thought process - no.
In reference to the first two questions its hard to think of an answer other than no. The Tahs have not won an away match thus far this season and they also lost a home match to the all be it impressive Cheetahs. Looking at the schedule, a tour of South Africa to face the Bulls and Kings respectively does provide a rather grim viewing of the table for Tahs fans in the weeks to come. In addition, the win against the Chiefs was the first time the Waratahs have won a game in which they were not heavy favourites. Losses to the Cheetahs, Reds, Brumbies and Hurricanes do not give Tahs fans the confidence that the men in blue can go out every week and put on a performance like they did on Friday night.
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| Rob Horne - Time for him to get the chop? |
Onto the second hot issue i have with the Waratahs, i do not believe that all 15 plus players are on the same page on the field. Under the guidance of newly installed head coach Michael Cheika, the Waratahs are trying to play an attack minded brand of rugby that we have seen the All Blacks have an immense amount of success with. The main problem with this is that the majority of the players that play for the Waratahs were signed by former head coach Michael Foley who was an advocate of a conservative, kick oriented brand of rugby which has been similar to the way Robbie Deans has set up his Wallabies outfit - where the majority of the side is made up of Waratahs players. This leads to a situation where half of the players on the field such as Benn Robinson, Kane Douglas, Rob Horne and Brendan McKibbin, who were Foley-esque players, do not look like they are on the same team as guys like Bernard Foley, Israel Folau, Wycliff Palu and Michael Hooper, who all fit in with Cheika's ideology. The bottom line is that although there is potential to play the style of rugby Cheika wants and be sucessful with it, this will only be achieved if he is given time and full control over the transfer policy at the club as there is plenty of talented Australian rugby players who are well suited to a running style of rugby such as the Force's Kyle Godwin and Nick Cummins as well as a Tah to be in the Rebels no.9 - Nick Phipps.
So where does that leave us with the Super Rugby season of 2013?
Well my prediction is that the Tahs will once again finish around the 10th placed position with the Brumbies and Reds once again leading the way in the Australian conference. However, the potential of Cheika's project should not be looked over lightly as we have seen at the Brumbies - a franchise with much less potential than the Waratahs - that if you bring in the right coaching staff and are prepared to make tough decisions in regards to the playing group, the sky is the limit!
- Vladimir Aleksov
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