Tahs' Watertight Defence No Match For Contenders

Sun Herald

Sunday April 30, 2006

By DARREN WALTON

WARATAHS 20

HIGHLANDERS 3

THE new-age NSW Waratahs are officially the defensive kings of Super rugby, conceding three fewer points a game on average than any other team over the past decade.

For so long condemned as underachievers for failing to win a title, the 2006 model Waratahs have emerged as the defensive benchmark of the toughest provincial competition in world rugby.

The Waratahs leapfrogged the Crusaders into top spot on the Super 14 table on Friday night with a typically ruthless 20-3 victory over the Highlanders at rain-soaked Carisbrook and now have their sights firmly on finally breaking their 11-year title duck.

NSW's strangulation of the Highlanders marked the fifth time this season they had kept the opposition tryless.

All up, the mean Tahs have conceded 10 tries in 11 games, with the Crusaders, five-time Super series champions and seven-time finalists, the only New Zealand opposition to breach the NSW line in three matches this campaign. The Crusaders crossed twice in edging out the Waratahs 17-11 in a round-nine encounter in Christchurch.

Three weeks on, it appears increasingly likely that match served as a rehearsal for the final, and a sequel to the 2005 tournament decider, which the Crusaders won convincingly.

In easily the best defensive effort since the inception of Super 12 in 1996, the Waratahs have conceded a meagre 136 points at an average of 12.36 points a game in 2006.

Only five other teams have previously conceded fewer than 200 points after the same number of matches, which until this year has been enough to complete the minor premiership.

Queensland's class of 1999 previously had the title of defensive scrooges of Super rugby. The Reds let in only 170 points at 15.82 a game during that regular season.

Statistically, NSW had no right to beat the Highlanders, who kept the Waratahs camped inside their own territory for almost all the first half and finished the match boasting 73 per cent of possession and 59 per cent of territory - but still without scoring a try.

"Going into games, especially in these conditions, it's nice to know your defence is there and it's going to hold up," skipper Chris Whitaker said after equalling Matt Burke's record of 115 appearances for the Waratahs.

"We only had about 25 per cent of possession, which is not a great deal, but I suppose it's what you do with it and the pressure you put on the other team.

"The guys made their tackles and there was definitely no panic out there."

© 2006 Sun Herald

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