Tahs need to be better: Penney
Sydney: Waratahs coach Rob Penney has kept his faith in youth for this weekend’s clash with the Lions but admitted his commitment to sticking with emerging talent will be tested if the side’s horror start to 2020 continues deep into the Super Rugby season.
Penney announced his team on Wednesday for Friday night’s clash with the Lions and once again it was dominated by youngsters.
Will Harrison will start at flyhalf for the fourth time this season against the Lions while fellow youngster Mark Nawaqanitawase returns to the starting side after being wrapped in cotton wool against the Rebels.
In the pack, Lachie Swinton comes into the no. 6 spot, pushing Jed Holloway to the pine.
With Nawaqanitawase’s elevation, James Ramm comes onto the bench after two impressive outings for the Waratahs A side.
Penney said in pre-season that he was committed to giving his young players opportunities and he has stuck with that view through the first month of the season.
With a 0-3 start to the year and another big test against the Lions on Friday night, Penney admitted there would be a tipping point where patience would have to be shelved.
“The clock doesn’t stop ticking,” he said.
“There’s going to be a need to get some results.
“We need, for Waratahs rugby we need to be better than what we are but there’s elements of the game where there’s actually no talent required which we’re slipping up in and we need to fix those because that’s totally contrary to the values and the vision for the group ,” he said.
“We’re passionate Waratahs men and we’re desperate to show that we want to represent this state with a lot of pride and there’s elements of our game that wouldn’t reflect that.”
Waratahs: 1. Angus Bell, 2. Robbie Abel, 3. Harry Johnson-Holmes, 4. Tom Staniforth 5. Rob Simmons, 6. Lachie Swinton, 7. Michael Hooper, 8. Jack Dempsey,9. Jake Gordon 10. Will Harrison, 11. Jack Maddocks
12. Karmichael Hunt, 13. Alex Newsome 14. Mark Nawaqanitawase, 15. Kurtley Beale
Reserves: 16. Damien Fitzpatrick, 17. Tom Robertson, 18. Tetera Daulkner,
19. Jed Holloway, 20. Ryan McCauley,
21. Mitch Short
22. Lalakai Foketi, 23. James Ramm. –Rugby.com.au
Australians will spoil the party going on in Forsyth Barr Stadium’s studentfilled ‘Zoo’ section.
Flying under the radar, the Rebels have inserted two Wallabies, Matt To’omua and hooker Jordan Uelese, back into their 23-man squad to complement the likes of fellow Wallabies Dane Haylett-Petty, Isi Naisarani and Marika Koroibete.
If that isn’t enough to sharpen the Highlanders’ attitude, they could cast their minds back to last year’s loss to the Rebels in Melbourne, or the Chiefs’ loss to the Brumbies in Hamilton last week.
“They’ve played better football in the past couple of weeks,” Highlanders head coach Aaron Mauger said of the visitors with a 1-3 record.
“They probably struggled to get off the mark early on.
“They showed some really good signs against the Sharks [last week]. They’ve got some threats across the park.
“They’ve got a very dangerous backline, Haylett-Petty, Koroibete, Matt To’omua and Billy Meakes are quality football players so defensively we need to step up from where we were last week.”