Phil Waugh confident of Waratahs chances of winning play-off encounter against Blues
Australian Super Rugby franchise New South Wale Waratahs’ captain Phil Waugh has expressed confidence in his team and their ability to defeat the Blues in the first play-off game of the 2011 Super Rugby competition.
Waratahs bonus point victory over the ACT Brumbies with a final score of 41 – 7 on Saturday June 18, enabled them to book their play-off outing against the New Zealand conference Blues. The Kiwi derby will host the Waratahs at Eden Park on Friday, June 24.
Phil Waugh has brushed aside the Blues home advantage in the knockout game and was positive that his team could beat any team in their current run of form. Waugh added, “It's important to take momentum into the finals and it's just a matter now of freshening
up and getting guys on the field.”
Waratahs had a mixed season in the Super XV competition but they made an impressive comeback in the later rounds of Super Rugby to secure a place in the play-offs. Waugh said, “I think we're in a pretty good space, I guess there's been a lot of focus on
how we travelled in the middle of the season, but in saying that we still won a lot of games in the middle of the season and put ourselves in the position we're in now.”
However, Waratahs preparations for the June 24 crunch game suffered a major blow as they lost three of their key first choice players. The players injured include their hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, prop Al Baxter and fly half Daniel Halangahu.
Tatafu Polota-Nau is recovering from a knee injury, Daniel Halangahu is carrying a hamstring issue and Al Baxter received a heavy head knock that has forced the tri out of the Blues’ encounter.
Waugh has expressed hope that the players can sustain the pressure of the all-important match in the absence of the first choice players. He said, “To be under the pressure that we've been under for the last two weeks, coming back from Africa and to have
those two big wins like that, says a lot about the character of the guys heading into next week.”
Kurtley Beale is expected to play as the fly half in place of injured Daniel Halangahu, while John Ulugia will replace Polota-Nau's in the starting xv.
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