“I was super surprised, usually … I have been in losing camps and cancers get in,” Coleman said.
“I noticed it specifically when I had my one-on-one chats with every player for an hour and I prodded a bit on that, I laid a few traps around, ‘Who was irking you? Who was getting on your nerves? Who don’t you rate?’. That sort of stuff. But mate, they’re rock solid. They are a good bunch of boys who genuinely rate each other.”
The Waratahs wrap up Isoa Nasilasila at CommBank Stadium.Credit:Getty
Unity is only part of the puzzle though, and without ability is next to useless.
So satisfaction within the Waratahs camp on Friday was as much about the component parts of their win over the Drua, as the whole.
Fiji are inexperienced but had proven against Melbourne in the trials they have the talent to score tries and threaten, if they get rolling. So NSW set the goal of playing in Fiji’s half, banking points and, with dominance up front, grinding the Drua further and further away from an upset. And so it unfolded.
NSW scored two tries in the first half and three more in the second. Ben Donaldson banked 15 points off the boot. It wasn’t a picture-postcard win by the Waratahs, and on what was a historic night for Fijian rugby, the most flair on display came in the pre-game Bole war cry.
The Waratahs celebrate Dave Porecki’s try.Credit:Getty
Reflecting a philosophical shift seen higher up with Dave Rennie, NSW down-geared and did what was needed to win.
The Tahs tried to out-attack everyone in 2021. In their first game of 2022, Coleman’s team shut down the potential for a Fijian touch game before one even got close to breaking out.
“I would like to think we will become a team – as our game model grows and we get better – I want us to be a ball-movement team and entertain, so there were some nice tries in there,” Coleman said.
“But probably more pleasing was the ones where we grinded them. Won a penalty, went to corner, mauled over, or the first try where there was a sneaky pick and drive near the posts. That is just that pressure, because when you’re in the A-zone, it doesn’t matter how you score, just that you score them.
“I say to the boys you don’t to have to be perfect to get a win. You don’t have to win every battle to win the war, you just have to win most of them.”
Izzy Perese on the attack.Credit:Getty
Fiji’s inexperience was seen in nervous handling and wobbly set-pieces, and they will get better quickly. But NSW would still be wise to hold off gauging their progress until after they meet the Reds at Leichhardt Oval on Friday.
However, one improvement stands out already – defence. NSW’s defence was awful in 2021, conceding an average of almost six tries a game in Super Rugby AU and Trans-Tasman. Kiwi teams ran in 40 tries in five games.
This year? In two trials and a competition game, the Tahs have only had their line crossed four times.
Gordon highlighted the dogged defence from NSW at the end of the Fiji win, when fatigue was starting to creep in and no one would have batted an eyelid if the Drua barged over for a second try.
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“There are teams that would roll over in those last five minutes and give them that try, but to see us fight and hold them up and not give them another try was really pleasing,” Gordon said.
Coleman paid credit to Gilmore, the defence coach.
“He is a world-class defence coach, and besides commitment, the boys have got clarity. The boys know where they are going off different phases and what they have to do,” he said.
“You put Gilly’s technical knowledge and the boys’ heart into it … and we showed that at the end.”
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Broken record: Team song strikes chord after long wait for a Waratahs win
Source: Philippines Alive
