Defence won the day

The Waratahs tackled like demons and the Hurricanes were uncharacteristically sloppy.

That, according to both camps, was the main cause for the Tahs' season-defining 29-24 win over the previously unbeaten Canes.

The loss for the Hurricanes was not enough to knock them off the top of the Super Rugby ladder, but for the Waratahs it meant a rapid rise from 10th place into the top six.

Although the Waratahs went into the match with a four-wins, three-losses record for the season, captain Dave Dennis said they never stopped believing in themselves.

"Not many people gave us a chance against the leaders, but we had a lot of belief that we could come over here and put in a good performance, and although it wasn't perfect it was a very big win for us," he said.

Hurricanes skipper Conrad Smith blamed poor defence for their first loss in eight games.

"We felt we could create a lot of opportunities on attack, and we did that, but we leaked too many tries," Smith said.

"[Defence] is something we've done well so far this season, but it wasn't good enough in this match," he added.

The Waratahs made a whopping 129 tackles, and even missed 38, but kept getting up.

Big Will Skelton typified the commitment by playing the full 80 minutes.

"There's a very satisfying feeling the changing room," Waratahs assistant coach Daryl Gibson said.

"We prepared very well this week.

"As much as the defensive effort [was good], the Hurricanes still got us at times and we were pretty lucky I thought at times not to concede some points [in the second half] and that shows the spirit in the side. They never give up."

But with the combination of good attack in the first half, and staunch defence in the second – both underpinned by season-best physicality in the contact zone – the Tahs certainly looked like their former selves.

"We said to ourselves if we were going to be in this competition we would do it our way, and that's attack and really playing with physicality that's part of our trademark and this match was getting back to that. We were satisfied with delivering that tonight," Gibson said.

The Canes attack fired enough to score four tries but the pressure of an up-and-in Waratahs defence saw them fumble a lot of ball, and was so effective, it coach prompted Chris Boyd suggested post-match the visitors were offside.

"I'd like to see the video," he said.

"We left three simple tries out there, and probably gave them two or three back the other way. Maybe the luck ran out."