A neat 50 years ago, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had just finished their inaugural season having lost all 14 matches, their head coach, John McKay, was asked what he thought of his team’s execution.
“I’m all in favour of it,” he replied, deadpan.
So, too – surely – Waratahs coach Dan McKellar after his charges’ first half against the Auckland Blues on Saturday night.
Yes, yes, yes, they were ahead 17-8, which was to the good, particularly against a team that had been heavily favoured to win. But you should have seen the ones that got away!
By my count, there were ten times – count ’em, TEN times – that the Waratahs woulda, shoulda, coulda scored, only to blow it in ever more imaginative ways.
Everything was razzle-dazzle-frazzle.
Time and again we saw genius lead-up work take them right to the point of scoring, only for passes to go forward, balls dropped, balls intercepted, failure to get the damn ball down even after it had been carried over the line – the last of which, three times!
We had hookers dummying and bursting through before unleashing expert kicks for flying wingers, only for the ball to go astray. We had fly-halves chipping, chasing and brilliantly regathering, only to throw a dud pass with the line wide open.
We had the deadly duo of Max Jorgensen and Harry Potter carving ’em up out wide, only for the ball to be lost when it counted. We had endless knock-ons, even as the Auckland Blues reeled before the onslaught. In the end, all we could jag in the way of tries was a slashing run by fly-half Jack Debreczeni and a traditional prop-forward try by rising star Dan Botha just on half-time, where his nose furrowed the path for the ball to follow just before he put it down.
Despite all the missed opportunities, though, we did indeed go to the break with a nine-point lead.
So, look, did it really matter?
Surely our blokes were going to win anyway. I mean, look at the half-time stats!
We hadn’t just enjoyed a glut of ball and territory, we had a flood of ball, covering all of bloody Auckland. In those first 40 minutes, the Tahs had two-thirds of possession and a staggering 75 per cent of territory. We had charged forward with the ball for 298 metres, against their mere 54 metres.
Say, were the Auckland Blues even out there? All I saw was the Waratahs playing both offence and defence, as they single-handedly killed off their own brilliance.
But those stats were built on dominating phase play, and having dangerous backs making myriad breaks. It was obvious to us that all the goodies needed to do to win the game was to keep doing exactly what they were doing – LESS the nine turnovers. Oh yes, and it would be good if we could limit the eight handling errors, against their mere one. None of that mattered truly, for the result, given how strong we were everywhere else. It was obvious the Waratahs would win. The frustration was just that they should have been in shape to win by 50.
But then a rather alarming notification popped up on the screen:
“THE LAST TIME THE WARATAHS WON AT HOME AFTER LEADING AT HALF TIME WAS 2015.”
Sorry, what?
A decade since they won, after leading at the break? That’s not an aberration, that’s the weight of history. How can that even be?
But … not to worry. A team that had 75 per cent of territory in the first half, leading by nine points, was not going to let it slip away. And certainly not when a penalty goal by outstanding Tahs fullback Sid Harvey – every rugby team needs a flying redhead – just four minutes into the second half gave us a handy 20-8 lead.
But, friends? Then it started. The Auckland team bus had arrived, for there were suddenly rampaging Blues backs and forwards everywhere at once – but more often than not, over our tryline.
All of our previous possession and territory domination disappeared as the Blues simply ran riot. It would be too depressing and tedious to go through all their tries, but I think there were four of the brutes. I lost count. Led by the clever passing and kicking of All Blacks five-eighth Beauden Barrett, they were simply unstoppable and scored 27 unanswered points to record a 35-8 victory.
Bugger. Bugger. Bugger.
And it was because of our lack of execution.
Still, I wouldn’t shoot all of them – just those whose composure when it counts at the line can’t match their genius in open spaces.
Peter FitzSimons is a journalist and columnist with The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X.