Tahs back young guns to break duck against Lions
SUPER RUGBY SPOTLIGHT: The Waratahs may be desperate to end their losing start to the season, but they are not about to copy the Lions blueprint and rush a number of veterans back into the team.
The Waratahs – with three defeats and a bye in the opening four weeks – take on the Lions (one win, two defeats and a bye) in Parramatta, Western Sydney, on Friday.
Both teams are coming off a bye this past weekend, with the Lions having travelled from Johannesburg to Sydney.
Waratahs forwards coach Matt Cockbain said they are “pretty determined” to break that losing streak.
He spoke of the need to “eradicate” the errors that have cost them dearly in the early part of the season.
He said they are hoping to finally put on display their “expansive” game, after the wet conditions in the opening rounds prevented them from showing off their full array of skills.
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“The Lions are a big side, a heavy forward pack,” Cockbain said.
“That creates opportunities elsewhere. If we can move them around and tire them out, hopefully we can utilise that space.”
Despite the horror start to the season – their worst ever – the Tahs are not tempted to change the youthful nature of the squad.
They will be up against a Lions squad with a number of seasoned Springboks – like Willem Alberts (35 and 40-odd Test caps), Jannie Du Plessis (37, 70 Tests) and Elton Jantjies (29, 37 Tests).
“We’ll continue down that path,” Cockbain said of the selection policy
He pointed out that the Reds are beginning to benefit from developing young players within the system and recorded a very impressive (64-5) win over the Sunwolves at the weekend.
“It’s not as if we’ve got someone to bring in to replace those guys either,” the forwards mentor said, adding: “We’ll look to nurture them along and just support them.
“They’re going to make mistakes, that’s fine, but that’s a learning process and as long as they are learning from that then we’re happy with that.”
Cockbain pointed out that they had a really good review at the weekend and the players must take ownership of what they did wrong in the first three weeks.
“It’s just [about the coaching staff] being really clear with how we want them to play.
“That’s the art to coaching is to figure out what they need and you do that by asking the right questions.
“It could be anything that they need but you’ve got to ask the right questions to get the growth in the player I think.”
@rugby365com
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