'It's just not acceptable': Waratahs boss calls for cultural overhaul following record loss to Hurricanes
Interim co-coach Chris Whitaker says the NSW Waratahs need a cultural overhaul after their season from hell plumbed new depths on Friday night.
Winless in eight Super Rugby AU games, the Waratahs opened their Trans-Tasman campaign with a 64-48 loss to the Hurricanes in Sydney.
Whitaker was dismayed the Tahs could put almost 50 points on the Hurricanes yet still finish empty-handed.
"There were just too many soft tries. It's just not acceptable. There were three or four tries where individuals need to put their hand up and say that's not good enough."
The cricket-score defeat at the SCG featured 17 tries in total, one less than the most in any Super Rugby game in history when the Chiefs edged the Lions 72-65 in a staggering contest in Johannesburg 11 years ago.
"The sad thing is there was some good footy out there. Both sides played some good footy and unfortunately the fact that they scored 60-odd points is going to overshadow that we scored 48," said Whitaker, who was especially gutted for his halfback and captain Jake Gordon.
"When Jake had the ball, he was putting guys through half holes all day.
"There were some really good performances on attack but unfortunately we need to play on both sides of the ball."
Whitaker believes the Waratahs' traditional attacking style has finally caught up with them.
"Because we're an attacking team, defence has been on the back burner for so long," said the 1999 Rugby World Cup winner.
"In the Sydney market, everyone wants to see attacking rugby but I think the mindset needs to change.
"If you look at teams around the world who win competitions, it's on the back of their defence."
Ominously, the Hurricanes finished last in the Super Rugby Aotearoa.
With games against New Zealand's top four sides to come, including two across the ditch, the Waratahs are staring down the barrel of their first-ever winless season.
"We've been written off all year, so what's new?" Gordon said.
"But we're trying to improve. We're desperate to improve.
"But, to be honest, I don't care what (people) write, it's more important what we do.
"We do such great work in attack and we look good for long patches in the game - and defence we did too - and then we'll miss a one-on-one.
"Defence is a real issue at the moment. Players have got to take ownership of that."
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What’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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