Waratahs fans will expect a better performance from their team in 2010.  They were not happy campers in 2009.

By now they will have forgotten that the Tahs nearly made the finals last year after finishing the season in the RSA with 3 wins out of 3.  And they won’t remember, or care much about, how well their pack performed game after game.  A lot of the Sydney crowd are not hard-core rugby heads.  They like a winner, but love to be entertained more.

No, what the Sydney fans at the ground will remember is the melancholy procession of dreary game after dreary game and the Tahs bringing visitors down to their level.  They may remember also that too many line-outs were lost and goal kicks missed.

As for tries – they would not be surprised to hear that only one S14 team scored fewer. The Tahs would have been in the semis against the Bulls if they scored one more try during the season because the Crusaders pipped them by 4 points on for and against.  If they knew it, many fans would say: “It serves them right.”

They weren’t happy with new coach Hickey.  What the Tahs dished up was no better than what McKenzie’s Tahs had provided in Sydney for much of his tenure.  It is well that the Tahs players walked around the field after the 2009 games and applauded the crowd. The crowd deserved it for being bored by them. Many will not have their bums on seats in 2010.

So; what is going to be different this year?  Although the Tahs have lost some Wallabies: THP Dunning to the Force, winger Tuqiri to Leicester, SNK to the Cardiff Blues and Timana Tahu back to league, their input in 2009 for one reason or another was hardly stellar.  On paper the 2010 arrivals should offer more this year than what the 2009 departures contributed last year.  They had better.

Expect Michael Foley to have the Tahs forwards strong again.

Front Row – No Super14 team with have better depth than the Tahs.  By my count they have 5 Wallabies and 2 future ones.  Benn Robinson is one of the best LHPs on the planet and he is backed up by Sekope Kepu.  Both impact in the tight stuff yet can fizz around the park.  The unfairly maligned THP Al Baxter will be out to settle a few scores and his reserve, 21 y.o. Dan Palmer, proved in 5 run-on games last year that he is the best young THP in the country.

The Waratahs are spoiled for choice at hooker.  Tatafu Poloto-Nau will be the principal starter but his kamikaze tackling style will not ensure survival.  Adam Freier will be wanting his starting role back from TPN and a return to the Wallabies.  He will add value as a 2nd fetcher and may start in some horses for courses games.  Last year’s U/20 captain Damien Fitzpatrick will add top value as a linker in general play.  After playing in 4 games from the bench in 2009 when Freier was hurt, he will want more of the same

But as a unit their throwing to the lineout will have to improve.  There were too many crooked throws and many of the straight  ones were not on target. Hickey should select the best darts player.

The 2nd row should be better this year wih the recruitment of 2008 Emerging Springbok Hendrik “Dud” Roodt; but we’ll have to see the big unit in action first.  Will Caldwell has reportedly recovered from the virus picked up in May, but losing 24 kgs would have been a sharp shock to his system and we will have to see him in action also.  Dean Mumm finished the Wallabies EOYT strongly and will get the lion’s share of game time.

The back row is the best balanced in Oz.  Captain Tah, 7. Phil Waugh, has slowed down a bit but not many fetchers do the tight work he does.  6. Ben Mowen cried no crocodile tears when Rocky went to the Brumbies.  He was a nice surprise being 3rd on the list of lineout receptions in the 2009 Super14 including, easily, the highest number of steals.  A bit more grunt and he could be a Wallaby smokey.  Dave Dennis and Mumm will back him up.

No.8 Cliffy Palu has been in prime form.  He won his 2nd consecutive Waratahs Players’ Player award in 2009.  The big unit also finished strongly for the Wallabies after coming back slowly from injury during the winter and was voted Player’s Player for the  EOYT.  Mowen will switch to 8 if Palu isn’t available.

The only weakness in the backrow is that Waugh has no adequate specialist backup because Beau Robinson was discarded.  Coridas will be the short term reserve, or, who knows, Freier during a game.  Two for the price of one.

Scrumhalf – Luke Burgess lost ground in 2009 and will have to get his mojo back.  His reserve, Josh Holmes, back home after a stint at the Brumbies, had better sharpen up else his career as a scrumhalf could be over.  He showed more spark as a 12 for the Rats last season than he has as a 9 in Super14.  Gives him more value for the bench though.

If these guys falter or goal kicking sucks expect Hickey to find an excuse to use Brendan McKibbin from the professional Junior Waratahs.  He has value too.

Fly-half and inside-centre is an area where Tahs fans expect an improvement.  They already saw some on the undefeated 3 trip visit to the RSA at the end of the 2009 Super14 when Daniel Halangahu, a facilitator, and Kurtley Beale, a ball player, teamed up as 10 and 12.  It wasn’t a try fest but it was a different, freer Tah’s backline of high promise.  The ball was used and mindless kicking reduced.  Rugby broke out and it was marvellous in our eyes.

But if this is to be continued – where to play star recruit Berrick Barnes?  He’d have to have one of the positions.  He deferred to Giteau for the Wallabies fyhalf spot but the mail is that he would like the 10 jersey at the Tahs to press his claims for Oz when Giteau goes offshore.

At the Super level Hangers is only a 10; so either he is on the bench with Barnes at 10 and Beale at 12  or he is starting at 10 with Barnes at 12 and Beale elsewhere. My feeling is that, subject to trial form, Barnes will get what he wants and it will be 10. Barnes; 12. Beale.  Or perhaps the best goal kicker in the trials will get preference; if there is a best one.

Outside centre is a weakness.  Robbie Horne is the only specialist yet he has had 2 recurrences of a hamstring injury suffered in the 9th S14 match last year – during the IRB U/20 tournament and in training camp after being picked for the Wallabies EOYT.  Tahs fans are fearing that Horne will succumb again and incidentally, not betting that Barnes will last the whole season.  In that case Rory Sidey will come into the mix. He played well for the Dragons in the Magners League last season and will take his chance.

Wing and fullback look well covered despite losing Tuquiri and SNK.   If Barnes plays at 12, Beale, Lachlan Turner, Sonese Anesi and Drew Mitchell will all be fullback hopefuls, and all but Beale, wing candidates.  This supposes that Mitchell has been trained by the Tahs to kick without accidentally using the outside of his foot.  If not, he is a wing only.

Trial form will be more pertinent for the back three positions than for any other area and it is too close to call.  Perhaps the 15 jersey will go to the one, if there is one, who can take a high ball consistently and kick the ball long and accurately when he gets it in the trials.  No, I don’t know who either. Then the others play on the wing.

The Waratahs draw is a bit strange but neither good nor bad.  It has them on the move and with no more than 2 games in a row at home.  The opening game in Brisbane is followed by 4 games against SAffer teams: two in the RSA then 2 at home, followed by a side trip to Perth.  And so on, ending with what will no doubt be a crunch game against the Canes at home.

Some Tahs fans will not be pleased with only 5 games at the SFS and having to trek out west to Homebush for the Brumbies game; nor will they be overjoyed that no trial game is in or near Sydney.

But all will be forgiven if the Tahs play to their potential this year, or near to it. This should include better ball movement in the backline, better lineout throwing and better kicking from hand and at goal.  It will also require the coach to direct his players to let rugby break out, and if things go wrong, to make changes earlier than he did in 2009.

Not all those things will happen but some of them must, or there will be no joy again for Tahs fans.  No joy.

THIS OLD BLOG IS BEING USED FOR WORDPRESS EXERCISES

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