It will be a match few remember, but for Darren Coleman the Waratahs’ 12-10 loss to the Blues at home on Saturday night could prove worse than first meets the eye.
After last week’s heartbreaking two-point loss to the Highlanders, the Waratahs went down for the second straight week against New Zealand opposition.
Rubbing salt into the wound, it was a match ripe for the picking as the wasteful Blues blew chance after chance.
The Waratahs gave themselves one late opportunity of stealing the match when debutant hooker Jay Fonokalafi, who was pouring concrete just days ago, got on the end of a rolling maul to score and help cut the margin to less than a penalty in the 80th minute.
But another issue with the home side’s attacking cleanout, where replacement back-rower Anton Segner got on the ball, saw Jordan Way penalise the Waratahs. Game. Set. Match.
Charlie Gamble was the Waratahs’ best but it wasn’t enough as they went down to the Blues at Allianz Stadium, on March 16, 2024, in Sydney. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
Whether it leads Coleman one step closer to be walking to the plank remains to be seen, but after being given until the end of March to prove his credentials, the Waratahs, who are one win from their opening four matches, now have a daunting task ahead of them with a trip to Fiji and Canberra ahead of them.
Waratahs skipper Jake Gordon lamented his side’s inability to put the Blues to the sword.
“It’s hard, we’ve had two really close losses which is really disappointing, but we’re getting closer and closer to where we want to be,” he said.
“It was a little bit scrappier than we expected. It’s pretty wet underfoot. I thought it was a real physical battle.
“You saw a lot of opportunities around the ruck, the Blues took a lot of opportunities around the ruck. I thought we fount until the end. I thought we were unlucky on a few occasions. We’ve just got to keep improving.”
The one positive is that the Waratahs’ defence did dig in.
“We spoke about going to Tah Tough,” Gordon said.
“I think we’re making massive improvements there from that first trial. We’re expecting the more we play the sharper we’ll get, it’s just come to quicker.”
The two-point victory was the Blues’ 10th straight over the Waratahs.
As much as the Waratahs will be left ruing what might have been, the Blues left more than a dozen points out on the field with playmaker Stephen Perofeta having a nightmare match.
The New Zealand international missed three straight-forward penalties and a conversion, as well as booting a penalty kick for touch dead in goal.
All Perofeta could do was laugh at his nightmare evening, which was somewhat saved by a desperate trysaving tackle on Triston Reilly in the 65th minute as the Waratahs started began their late push.
The visitors also had a try disallowed in both halves.