On Waratahs 27 vs Blues 22

The reason why I haven't written about the last two games is not because we lost but because we were ordinary and I didn't feel like it. I'll admit bias.

This season has never felt stable, there was still that air of apprehension, of pending loss.The Waratahs won their first three games (Hurricanes, Chiefs and Highlanders) with stodgy play, narrowly beat a lively Reds team, were ploughed through by the Brumbies and then beaten again by an under-strength Crusaders. Tonight was the night - the turning point for the season - if we lost this it confirmed the Waratah's downward slide, if we won we lived to fight another day. Tonight we didn't lose. We won. If you put aside the last 10 minutes of the game it was fairly decent.

Things I learnt tonight:

• Kurtley Beale shouldn't be in the team. Daniel Halangahu was exactly what we needed at No. 10. Sorry Kurtley - bench time for you. It's not that I blame Beale for the losses in the last few weeks, plus the ordinary play prior to that, its just that kicking penalties should be a given, not a bonus. Getting the ball into touch is kinda important and it's useful not to aimlessly give away possession.
• The Waratahs play better when ball is kicked less. Luke Burgess cut through the base of the Blues scrum time and time again. He had a killer game. Running the ball gained more ground than all of last fortnights' box kicks combined.
• Burgess is better than Sheehan. Sheehan is slow. Burgess runs around the scrum good like.
• Palu can be forgiven for getting two yellow cards in three weeks, even if both cards were given for exactly the same offence. The team still has no one to replace Palu.
• The Waratahs live by their forward pack.
• Just when we fix one problem (Beale's kicking) another returns (Polota-Nau's lineouts).

In a way I feel bad for Beale, he is only 20 and did have the weight of the team on him. When the Tahs played the Reds he was beaten by Cooper and tonight he was clearly surpassed by Halangahu. Given no one is touching Gits... it suddenly looks like he has a long way to go before securing a stable place in any team... Super 14 or otherwise.