Dan McKellar’s blunt ‘squeezed to death’ take after Waratahs defeat

NSW Waratahs coach Dan McKellar didn’t hold back after a 20-17 defeat to the Western Force at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium, saying the hosts were “squeezed to death” and bullied around the park by a side with “a pretty bland plan.”

New South Wales had won two of their last four coming into this round 12 Australian derby, which loomed as a crucial clash for both playoff hopefuls. The Tahs were looking to bounce back after last week’s 15-point defeat to the Crusaders in Christchurch.

The Waratahs sat just outside the top six going into this match, with only a handful of rounds left in their regular season. But it’s a tough run home for the men in cambridge blue, who still have away trips to face the Highlanders, Fijian Drua and the Force to come.

It was 3-0 in favour of the Force for most of the first half, before Waratahs playmaker Lawson Creighton beat a Zack Lomax tackle to score go-ahead points in the 33^rd minute. But a late five-pointer to Force flyer Dylan Pietsch saw the teams go into the sheds locked at 10-all.

Pietsch and the accurate goal-kicking boot of Ben Donaldson proved key for the visitors during the second term, racing out to a 10-point lead deep in the piece. The Tahs were well beaten in both the territory and possession battles, and had to make more than 280 tackles on the night.

“Just disappointed. We got squeezed to death, couldn’t get out of our end. Physically dominated in and around the ruck,” McKellar told reporters.

“Plenty of effort but I thought parts here tonight, we got beaten at our own game.

“They squeezed us, they squeezed us,” he added. “In the second half they won the aerial battle. First half we defended a lot, did well to get back to 10-3, they kick off and we’re just so loose at the breakdown. We turn it over and gift them an opportunity on the back of losing a couple of collisions.

“it’s a really simple game if you want to do the simple things well but we’re slow into the breakdown, they counter-ruck, turnover, [Dylan] Pietsch eventually scores.

“Second half, turned over ball at set-piece and bullied in and around the ruck. That’s both attack and defence. They just came here, a pretty bland plan and it worked. Just disappointing that we didn’t start to fire a punch until we’re down by 10 points.”

Before the Saturday slate of matches in round 12, the Waratahs sat in eighth place on the standings, four competition points behind the Queensland Reds in sixth. The Force have given themselves a chance of playing finals football, moving up one spot into ninth.

The Waratahs have two away trips back-to-back coming up, returning to New Zealand for a match against the Highlanders at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium. They will then face the Drua away, with both fixtures looming as season-defining contests.

“Not even looked at the ladder and not even thinking about that,” McKellar said.

“I know when we’re at our best, as we’ve shown sporadically, we can beat anyone, but the gap between our best and not our best is too big at the moment and that’s why we get inconsistencies around performance.

“It’s frustrating. We’ve got to have a look at what we’re doing.”