Waratahs 28 Sharks 13
THE Waratahs have promised for weeks that their best is yet to come. And last night they showed how much more they felt they really have to offer with an emphatic semi-final win over the Sharks to book a start in the Super 14 final.
But if they are to beat the Crusaders in Christchurch next Saturday for their first Super crown, then they must find that last edge in their game - and they will be the first to say so, especially those who played in their one and only final in 2005 when it was a Super 12 tournament and they also lost to the Crusaders.
It was still a thoroughly deserving win for the Tahs who dominated nearly all facets of the game - the scrum was one area where the Sharks had an edge, while Kurtley Beale's goal kicking was again inaccurate.
The Waratahs, who led 15-6 at half-time, stormed away to take control of the game with a 25-6 lead within five minutes of the break with two tries - by Beale (41st minute) and halfback Luke Burgess (45th minute).
Albeit, it was a worry both tries were not converted by Beale who had missed three of four kicks in the first half - leaving one to ask what the score should be.
But the Waratahs did not relent and ensured they continued to press the Sharks' quarter.
One of the Waratahs' unsung heroes was hooker Adam Freier who was hurt early in the first half, but played on despite showing obvious distress while tackling his heart out and excelling with his mighty work at the breakdown.
The Sharks tried to get back into the game halfway through the second stanza and came nail-bitingly close with one push that NSW fended off and shut the door on with a turnover and kick by Lote Tuqiri that found touch at the 50m line.
At the 60-minute mark the 37,378 crowd gave captain and flanker Phil Waugh a deserving standing ovation as he came off in his 100th game for the Waratahs, to be replaced in the openside role by the fast and furious Beau Robinson.
The Sharks, while clearly short on zing and zest more often than not in the second half, summoned a last gasp effort to stay in the game and were rewarded with a try to reserve hooker Craig Burden at the 71st minute that halfback Rory Kockott converted to bring he score back to 25-13.
A drop goal by Beale in the 79th minute took their score to 28-13.
After the first 20 minutes, the score was 3-3 after the Sharks had enjoyed a far greater share of possession and territory.
The Sharks were first to score, with No. 10 Ruan Pienaar kicking a drop goal from about 17 metres out in the 18th minute right in front of the posts.
But the Waratahs started to get into the groove more in the second quarter of the match, producing a number of attacking phases from within their own half.
In the first half they won four lineouts on Sharks throws, fitting that the fourth in the 26th minute set up the Waratahs for their first try of the night.
Sharks hooker Bismarck Du Plessis's throw went to ground 15m out from their line from where Phil Waugh burst through to toe it, worryingly grabbing his upper right leg as he did. Sharks outside-centre Adrian Jacobs scooped the ball, but before he hit full stride to try to run it out into safe territory, his Waratahs opposite Rob Horne crashed down on him.
It was a near-perfect hit and forced the ball out of Jacobs's hand and sent it bouncing back towards their own goal line with Waratahs winger Lote Tuqiri in hot pursuit.
Tuqiri's pick-up and burst over the line to score was a mere formality, but a much valued one that put NSW up 10-3 after Kurtley Beale potted the conversion.
NSW WARATAHS 28 (Kurtley Beale, Luke Burgess, Rob Horne, Lote Tuqiri tries Beale con, pen, drop goal) bt SHARKS 13 (Craig Burden try Rory Kockott con Francois Steyn pen Ruan Pienaar drop goal) at Sydney Football Stdm. Referee: Bryce Lawrence (Nzl). Crowd: 37,378.
