Saturday night’s Super Rugby final between the Waratahs and Crusaders will go down as one for the ages. In fact, many commentators have described it as the finest yet in the 19-year history of the competition. The Sydney final delivered everything fans wanted and more: the two best teams stacked with internationals slugging in out in a taut, seesawing thriller before a record Super rugby final crowd of 61,823.
In the end, a solitary point separated the sides in a contest that could have gone either way and was only decided in the final minute. There can be no denying the Waratahs though. They fully deserved their maiden Super Rugby title. They have been the best team in this year’s tournament and proved it in blitzing the seven-time champions in a mesmerising opening 20 minutes. Up 14-0 in a final, this was always going to be the Tahs to lose.
That they nearly did says more about the Crusaders than any supposed choke by the Tahs. Questions had been raised in this column about the genuine title bona fides of this year’s Crusaders compared to the franchise’s champion sides of 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 (undefeated), 2005, 2006 and 2008. On Saturday’s showing, this year’s red and blacks would have made a worthy addition to that honour roll. Todd Blackadder’s team unquestionably played their best game of the season. They were magnificent. Richie McCaw, Kieran Read, Nemani Nadolo, Matt Todd, Sam Whitelock, Israel Dagg, Colin Slade – who surely must be in All Blacks reckoning if Dan Carter’s badly corked thigh keeps him sidelined longer than expected – couldn’t have done any more for the cause.
In fact, few Australian fans would have begrudged the Kiwis winning given how they played. There might have been some forum and blog noise around Nadolo’s controversial try early in the second half, but that 50-50 touch match official’s call was more than evened out in the final wash up with McCaw deemed offside at the ruck in the 78th minute, 45m out and in front of the sticks. Again, it was a call that could have gone either way. And it was no gift three points either, a kick right on the outer limit of Tahs fly-half Bernard Foley’s range. The ball only just cleared the cross bar in the end, the final and decisive score in an utterly gripping contest. It was a kick Foley wouldn’t have made were it not for the season-long tutelage of Tahs kicking coach Andrew Mehrtens, a five-time title winner with the Crusaders. The irony wasn’t lost on Tahs coach Michael Cheika: “In a way he [Mehrtens] has been a big contributor in relation to the result. I love the irony of the situation. There is no doubt about it,†he said post-match.
It’s taken the Waratahs 19 years to win a title. Who knows when, if ever, there will be another. It’s hard to imagine anything surpassing this year’s breakthrough though. The Crusaders had the game won. Who would dare bet against them, up by two with four minutes to play? For the Tahs to steal victory at the death as they did is now part of Super rugby folklore, right up there with Bryan Habana’s last-gasp, match-winning try for the Bulls against the Sharks in the 2007 final.
Tahs centre Adam Ashley-Cooper deservedly took man of the match honours for his two tries, excellent kick reception work, and general all round excellence. However, that honour could have gone to any number of players including Foley (who with 23 points set a new scoring record for a Super final), Kurtley Beale, Wycliff Palu and Michael Hooper. The others, including off the bench, weren’t far behind. The Crusaders did manage to stop Israel Folau getting into the clear as he often does but the star full-back nonetheless stretched them this way and that, the attention he commanded by his mere presence creating opportunities for the likes of Ashley-Cooper. It was a complete team performance by the Tahs, marred only by the odd line-out mishap. Against any other side, the Tahs might have romped home with a bit to spare.
Let’s not forget the role coach Michael Cheika has played in the Tahs revolution. This is a team that had been booed by its fans in 2012. In just two years, Cheika has transformed the Tahs from perennial underachievers who had alienated their fan base to a team Sydneysiders have fallen in love with all over again. He’s a player’s coach and his team, to a man, swear by him. Last night’s win also gives Cheika a unique coaching double after he led Leinster to a Heineken Cup triumph in 2009. He is the first rugby coach to win titles in both hemispheres.
Finally, when people remember the 2014 final they’ll cue images of Ashley-Cooper’s brace of tries and Foley’s kick at the end. The match, however, was won in a moment that has barely been mentioned: half-back Nick Phipps’ try-saving tackle on Nadolo who looked certain to score late in the second-half. That score with a successful conversion could have taken the Crusaders six points clear. In game of fine margins decided by just one point, that might have been enough. Take a bow Phipps. You won the match for your team.
Article source: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/simon-thomas-worst-welsh-rugby-7415418
Waratahs revolution complete with Super Rugby title
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