Operation 'get Carter' for Tahs
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The class and guile of Dan Carter has quickly been identified by the Waratahs with defensive coach Nathan Grey devising a special strategy against him.
It was left to enforcer Wycliff Palu last week to disrupt Brumbies play-maker Matt Toomua, a master stroke by Grey.
Waratahs flyhalf Bernard Foley says they will have similar plans for Carter.
“I don’t think you want to change too much," Foley said when quizzed on what they have planned for Carter.
“[The Palu ploy] was more of a one-off … there might be a couple spanners that he’ll [Grey] throw in.
“I think Nathan Grey’s got a couple of ideas, he always likes to keep attacks on the edge.
"He’s got a number of little tricks like that he loves to play.
“All year we’ve done little things like that. Some have been successful, some haven’t, but he's putting his brain together and I think we’ll try to nullify them somehow.”
Protecting the first and second channels falls to Foley and wing Rob Horne in the Waratahs setup, this time their eyes will be on Carter and Colin Slade.
Foley has said Carter’s threat is enormous, particularly when he is running the ball.
“Myself or Rob Horne normally take the first two, whether it be Dan running, or they might play him out the back or at first receiver distributing with a bloke short,” Foley said.
“Giving him time and space, his running game is probably undervalued or people don’t talk enough about that because he can really take on the line as well as distribute to the likes of Israel Dagg and Nemani Nadolo out wide.
“I think he’s got all the class and experience as a footballer, he’s the world’s best and he’s been there for a long time.
“His composure, his ability to influence a game and control the match and just keep it on their terms is definitely a massive strength of his.
“We know that whether they’re behind or in front, they’re just going to continue doing the same thing, the Crusaders way. That’s been so successful over the years I don’t think they’ll change much.
“Whenever you come up against national players you want to test yourself against them, and get one over them. Saturday night will be the same.”
The history books do not make good reading for the Waratahs – it has been 10 years and 11 games since the Australians last triumphed over the Crusaders.
However, for Foley it is all about the here and now.
“In the short time I’ve been here there is definitely a different feeling to the squad,” Foley said.
“The environment has changed, everyone is a lot tighter, the workrate has definitely improved.
“There’s no moaning or whingeing, not saying there was in the past, but guys are just putting their heads down and getting on with it and really buying into the cause rather than having personal agendas or their own influences.
“Everyone has bough into the cause here that we’ve been doing and hopefully it’s paying off.
“It’s been 10 years [since we’ve beaten the Crusaders], but I’ve only played them once in my time here.
“It’s more the fact you’re in the grand final, if it’s tight at the end you’ve got to step up. I don’t think much changes, it didn’t change much last Saturday night when it was tight there.
“We weren’t going away from what we knew.We’ve just got to have that belief in the players, that everyone is going to do their job, and if it’s not good enough on the night we’ll sit back and lick our wounds, but if it is then it will be pretty successful.”
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