What ifs for Tahs in defeat
RUGBY UNION: The Waratahs will have to stew on a lastround loss to the Brumbies that could ultimately have cost them a spot in the Super Rugby final.
By losing to the ACT team in Sydney, the Waratahs didn’t have a home semi-final and instead had to make the gruelling trip to South Africa.
While Daryl Gibson’s side started in strong fashion, racing out to a 14-0 lead after 10 minutes against the Lions in Johannesburg, the home team ran over the top of them to prevail 44-26.
Instead of travelling to Christchurch to play the Crusaders – who defeated the Hurricanes in their semi-final – in the decider next week, the Waratahs will be left wondering how they let a team that didn’t play finals beat them when everything was on the line.
“Of course we always look back on the season and think what if ?” Gibson said.
“For our team, we’ve had to battle all year to earn our way to this point with pretty much the same team week in, week out. I can forgive our guys for having a tough night (against the Brumbies), they were already in the quarters and achieved one of their goals.
“It’s certainly one thing we’ll look back on and go ‘it could’ve been different’.”
While disappointed to bow out to the Lions, NSW made more strides than almost anyone could have imagined this season.
After two years out of finals, including a disastrous 16th place finish in 2017, the Waratahs were clearly the standout Australian team.
Gibson wasn’t looking for excuses after the game against the Lions, which saw them struggle when substitute Damien Fitzpatrick was sinbinned only minutes after coming on in the second half.
The Lions capitalised on the Waratahs being a man down, scoring two tries to build a match-winning lead.
Gibson also wasn’t interested in the altitude factor of playing at Ellis Park.
“A tough one but the game is what it is and for us it was a bit of a turning point, the Lions capitalised well in that period,” Gibson said. “Credit to the Lions, they thoroughly deserved the victory.”
.................................................. RESULTS: Crusaders 30 d Hurricanes 12, Lions 44 d Waratahs 26