Author: Hawko

Waratahs Season: 2016 has been a disappointing season for the Waratahs. They started with a big win that probably lulled them into a false sense of security. Then they got beaten up by the Brumbies in Canberra, had a bye, lost to the Highlanders in a close one, squeaked home against the Reds, lost a disaster of a game against the Rebels, had another bye, then lost a close one to the Brumbies at home. At the halfway mark they had two wins against the Reds, whose only weapon was their scrum, and the rest were losses. A disaster, moreso…

You can tell I’m an old bloke. I still vividly remember the Leyland P-76 car launch, which was the very definition of a lemon. Ugly as. mechanically unreliable, poorly put together. Luckily I didn’t buy one; at that stage I could only afford a second hand VW beetle. The P-76 was a disaster that was the downfall of Leyland in Australia. 2016 was the year Super Rugby launched its very own P-76: The four conference 18 team expansion. With four conferences in two groups, with different finals guarantees to each group and conference and teams in conferences where they have…

Super Rugby 2016 – The Road Home: Part 5 Only two weeks till the finals, and for me the top four is now a given and only one spot in the eight is in doubt. That spot will be resolved next week when the Waratahs and Hurricanes meet in Sydney. The Lions are now at unbackable odds to secure top spot and home ground for all finals. That was one result I never would have predicted! Broken record I know, but the bias towards the South African teams was predicted from the start. The Stormers were guaranteed a home quarter…

Its good to get that infernal window out of the way, forget what happened and allow everyone to now focus on the real action. While almost everyone will be watching the top of the table clash in Fiji on Friday, Saturday has a few surprises, especially for those who don’t carefully read the program schedule. The Waratahs play the Sunwolves at 1445 Tokyo time, so don’t tune in at 7:30pm because it will be all over. THE WARATAHS: Half of them have been holding tackle bags and scragging off for three weeks while the other half have been belted around by…

Round 14: Surely the most important round of the 17 in the season. Only two games have no bearing on the finals make-up, and several games are make-or-break for both teams, with a loss consigning the loser to an away final or no final at all. Arguably, this game was the most crucial in the whole round. For the Chiefs, a loss would catapault them out of the home final and rely on other teams losing to get back. Charlie Ngatai was still out with concussion and Michael Leitch is gone for the season. For the Waratahs, a loss would…

Yesterday I discussed the unfair nature of the current Super Rugby conference system. Today I propose a simpler, fairer system that delivers less travel and better outcomes. Firstly, the group system should be abolished and replaced by three six-team conferences – SA, Aust. and NZ. The SA conference would comprise the Kings, Bulls, Sharks, Cheetahs, Lions and Stormers. The Sunwolves would be in the New Zealand conference and the Jaguares in the Australian conference. For ultimate fairness the Jaguares and Sunwolves would swap conferences each year. Each team would play six games in their own conference and four games in…

We are half way through the regular Super season and what was apparent before the start is now blindingly obvious. The conference/group system is a total turkey. In this article I’ll explain why, and tomorrow I’ll put forward a fairer alternative conference structure tomorrow. Within the forum there has been quite a lot of discussion about the new, two group/four conference Super Rugby competition at various times since it was first announced. Discussion and debate erupted again last week in the Brumbies match thread. In the forum, Braveheart posted this comment in reply to several others. This is what he…

Five rounds done. Both teams out of the eight. Both teams have injuries galore. Both teams on a bye next week so whoever misses out this week gets no points for a fortnight and will be playing catch-up from round eight onwards. This game is seriously important for finals hopes because the loser will start counting how many more losses they can afford to have and still make the eight. THE WARATAHS: The Waratahs have two wins from four and two losses against top four teams. In both the lost matches they had chances to win but couldn’t pull…

Will the Rebel set piece dominate? Will the home town support bring the Force home? Will the Rebels step up to be a finals threat? Will the Force run it from everywhere? Is Lance and Godwin the answer? Will Hanson set himself up as the next Aussie hooker? The Match Conditions were brutal, hot and humid. This made for handling mistakes in the first half and multiple players cramping in the last 20. The Rebels have won by 6. The last 20 minutes wasn’t pretty but they won. Rebels 25 – Force 16 First Half The first half was notable…

Maybe not the most attractive match in Round One, but certainly the most intriguing! For both teams this game will be critical: How will the Force play? Can the Rebels be a real threat this year? Watch the Brumbies – Hurricanes game if you want a Grand Final preview. Watch the Sunwolves – Lions or the Kings – Cheetahs if you like watching car crashes. Watch the Tahs – Reds game for a bit of spite and fire. Watch the Blues – Highlanders game to see if Umanga can resurrect the NZ easybeats. But this game is for the serious…

This will be an absolute cracker of a game! Both teams play with positive intent, using all fifteen players as part of their game. The two best fullbacks in world rugby are on show and the best halfback. Right across the backline there are stars to burn: Fekitoa vs Ashley-Cooper, Naholo vs Horne, Osborne vs Naiyaravoro, Foley vs Sopoaga. Great to watch, whoever wins. The Missing: Both teams are missing key players: The Waratahs’ Kurtley Beale has failed a fitness test on his quad strain and will be replaced by Matt Carraro. Despite what the haters say about his play,…

The Waratahs title defence is down to the wire. One game to go in the regular season with the all-important Second spot on the ladder up for grabs. And its the Reds, the team that used to be their bogey. The team that could play terribly all year and then come to the SFS and play like Champions to knock the Waratahs out of the play-offs. Will they do it again? The Festival of Hate: Where did this hate originate? Was it the ‘not good enough’ snubbing of the Queenslanders by NSW in the 60’s? Was it the booing of…

Crunch game this week for the Waratahs. Up against the Sharks, who last game pushed the Hurricanes to the limit, we will find out whether they have learnt from last week. Nathan Grey called it: “I would rate the game against the Force a three out of ten, it was very disappointing to say the least, so a three is probably a generous rating.” Can the Waratahs re-learn their playbook? In the second half of last season, the Waratahs played a game that other teams found impossible to counter. When they came up against a team who tried,…

The Force smashed the Waratahs in Round One and then promptly lost their next ten games. Would Round One repeat at home or would it just be more of the same? For both teams this was a key game: The Force had to break their ten game losing streak soon, they had been building momentum for weeks. The Waratahs were building to overtake the Brumbies at the top of the Australian conference. The Match The Force have broken through. It wasn’t pretty but they won. Force 18 – Waratahs 11 First Half The first ten minutes was all Waratahs and…

Welcome back to the Tuesday top 5 5. And the winner will be chosen from…… Half way through the Super comp and I reckon there are only five teams who can win it – Chiefs, Hurricanes, Waratahs, Brumbies or Stormers. If the Brumbies lose the next two games then it’ll be down to four. If you want to win the comp you have to avoid a trip to SA in the semi’s and be higher up the table than the top SA team so you can avoid finals in SA. I think the only teams with that chance are the…

Both teams won last week, both teams looking for points to keep up with the frontrunners and not let them get away on the table. Its not do or die but its still a key game for both teams. The Match Shane Christie was a late withdrawal, replaced in the starting line-up by John Hardie. The first 20 minutes was all Waratahs. Dominant scrum, big hits and characteristic running and interpassing. The first try was off a short ball from Folau to Hooper who made the break and passed to Phipps to score. Foley missed the conversion. 5-0. The second…

Reading the form tea-leaves for this game is pretty difficult. The Highlanders beat the previously unbeaten Chiefs last week, after giving up TWO scrum penalty tries.The Waratahs beat the Reds in a game widely rated as diabolical. On that basis maybe the Highlanders should be at $1.10 and the Tahs $5.00 underdogs. View image | gettyimages.com Highlanders form: Despite knocking over this year’s Super favorites, the Highlander’s form has been average so far. They had the bye in round one, lost by six in round two to the slow-starting Crusaders and beat the hapless Reds by seven in round…

The new season begins but it feels really strange this year. All those feelings that we Tah fans had every other year – that ray of hope that maybe this year would be different, the bad taste that you got when Kafe repeated his tenth year of a three year plan jibe, the chortles from north of the border when even the slightest positive comment from the Tahs spiked cries of hubris, the feeling of dread at how many times we would get Kaplan. But this year all those thoughts have vanished, replaced by the still-lingering euphoria of that critical…

Last Saturday night was such a mixture of relief and euphoria that its taken a while to reflect on the underlying nature of the contest. With five minutes to go, I was glued to my seat wondering how on earth the team that had dominated the game was two points behind and looking like losing again. Then the glory of the final penalty and the celebration of the win drove those thoughts to the back of my mind. Apart from the kicks to exploit Nadolo’s weaknesses, the Waratahs ran the ball at the Crusaders unwaveringly the whole game. Two points…

TWO TEAMS ENTER, ONE TEAM LEAVES A long pre-season then twenty one weeks of playing and training. In just 80 minutes it will be all over for one team and a finals’ chance for glory for the other. No next week redemption, its all on the line. #451364908 / gettyimages.com The Form The Waratahs: They are the runaway comp leader, with impressive form, leaving everyone in their wake. Seven points in front after 19 rounds and playing a devastating power running game that looks different to every other team. They rule most of the stats, highest average points per…