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Waratahs boss: 'Rome wasn't built in a day, but we're definitely building it'
Declaring himself “a half-glass full sort of guy”, NSW Waratahs coach Darren Coleman insisted he’d still have a beer and wake up with a smile even after witnessing the most exasperating of defeats from his developing side.
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Despite dominating possession and territory to the tune of five to one, the Waratahs somehow suffered a 20-16 Super Rugby Pacific loss to the gallant Queensland Reds on Friday night.
Waratahs fans must have walked away from Leichhardt Oval wondering how on earth their team could have lost, especially after Ben Donaldson’s beautifully-executed drop goal had given the Tahs a three-point buffer with 14 minutes remaining.
But somehow, with no Taniela Tupou, no Tate McDermott for the entire second half and virtually no ball all game, the Reds escaped with the four competition points after the Waratahs threw the match away.
“I’m more philosophical now. I was gutted at first,” Coleman said.
“But we knew this road we’re trying to get to wasn’t going to be easy, that we were going to have little hurdles and we’ll get some really good lessons out of that.
“We just haven’t figured out the winning part of it yet.
“But full credit to Queensland, they were potentially like us four or five years ago and they’ve got in a winning habit the past two years and they know how to win.
“So that’s our goal over the next season – to learn that.”
Winless wooden spooners last year, the Waratahs surely would have upset the 2021 Super Rugby AU champions if only they’d held their nerve in the final 15 minutes.
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Alas, they couldn’t.
Sublime with both his long and short passing, Donaldson also proved a coach killer.
The fly-half missed two critical penalty attempts, committed the cardinal sin of not finding touch late on from another and made some poor, costly decisions when the game was on the line.
Reds opposite James O’Connor, by contrast, was perfect with the boot, landing four goals and finding Jordan Petaia with a pinpoint cross-field kick for Queensland’s first try.
“He’ll get better,” Coleman said of Donaldson.
“He’s doing five good things and five bad things at the moment.
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“Once he gets up to six or seven, eight out of 10, then he starts becoming world-class.
“He’s got the ability to do it. He’s just got to get the temperament and mental focus to be able to do it under clutch and key times.
“But we’re definitely not giving up. We’ll back him for sure.”
Just as Coleman is backing his entire young team.
“The fabric of our game is there,” he said.
“I’m just pumped they have a go. They’re ripping in, they’re trying their hardest and, at this point in time, it’s all I’ve asked – that they compete and stay in the fight.
“They’re doing that. The next step for us and the NSW public, if they’re going to support us, is just to get that bit more polish and discipline at key times and we’ll turn those close losses into wins.
“It’s a cliche that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but we’re definitely building it.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
10 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
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