Gibson gives the Waratahs a serve
errors came from a home side blatantly failing to make the most of pristine conditions.
Just past the quarter-hour mark the Bulls levelled the scores on the back of a brilliant 50-metre kick to the corner by Handre Pollard.
The Blues held the initial lineout drive, but quick ruck ball allowed loosehead prop Lizo Gqoboka to burrow over for his first try at this level.
Whatever Umaga had to say at the break, it worked as the Blues came out and took a grip on the match as two tries to Duffie in the first quarter of an hour eased them out to 19-7.
The first came early when, from unpromising ball, Collins straightened nicely and offloaded to Duffie for a nice fend on Jamba Ulengo and an angled run to the line. The second was precision attack from a 5m scrum, with Piers Francis’ crosskick inchperfect for his wing unmarked out wide.
A yellow card to Jimmy Tupiu for a neck roll on the 58-minute mark briefly allowed the Bulls a passage back into the match, but it was closed abruptly when substitute first-five West sliced through a Bulls’ defensive line out of alignment to make it 24-7.
From there the Blues finished strongly, replacement hooker Moulds finishing a nicely worked attack out wide and then Nanai dashing 45m for a beauty straight from the restart, with West and Rieko Ioane carving the opening. BERNARD Foley concedes he was somewhat rusty in his first Waratahs game of the year but he and Kiwi coach Daryl Gibson agree NSW showed tremendous character with their ‘‘backs against the wall’’ to scrape home and beat the Melbourne Rebels in their own backyard.
The last month has been a frustrating period for Foley, who was ruled out of the first four Waratahs matches as a result of a concussion he sustained in the Highlanders trial match.
Foley’s experience and composure at No.10 was a vital ingredient when the Rebels hit the panic button before ultimately conceding a try in the final minute to go down 32-25 at AAMI Park.
‘‘There was a bit of rust but I enjoyed playing,’’ Foley said. ‘‘I thought there was a lot of space and had to play in behind the forward pack that was going well.
‘‘You’re never going to play the perfect game, but you strive to. I thought we attacked quite well at stages and there was some passes that were a bit off but that was going to be there.’’
Said Gibson of Foley: ‘‘He obviously gave a lot of fluency. I thought at times he was a little rusty; a couple of errant passes there. But I thought, on balance, first game back after a four-week lay-off, he was excellent.’’
Foley said there was a belief within the team at half-time they could still mow the Rebels down.
There was also motivation given Gibson, usually a mindmannered operator in comparison to the fire and brimstone of former Waratahs coach Michael Cheika, gave his players a real serve.
‘‘I can’t recall [being like that before],’’ Gibson said. ‘‘We had to stir them up in terms of getting more urgent and I think the Rebels were far more urgent and far more desperate and so we had to match that.’’
Foley added: ‘‘The coach read us the riot act at half-time, which kicked everyone on … I think it was needed. The boys really wanted to stand up and be counted and I thought that was the best way to do it, with our backs against the wall at halftime, to come out firing and not lose faith and not lose vision of what we’re trying to do. The Sun-Herald