What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? This will be the question answered this Friday in the biggest game of the 2022 Super W season so far.
In one corner, the NSW Waratahs - a team who have yet to be beaten in their entirety of Super W.
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In the other corner, the Fijiana Drua - the expansion team which has dominated all competition in 2022.
It's a challenge Waratahs and Wallaroos captain Grace Hamilton is embracing in a massive year for Women's Rugby.
“I think everyone is just excited,” Hamilton told Rubgy.com.au.“It’s been a long time between games so the more footy we play, the more excited we get so we’re excited to get out there and play the best we can.
“You can see the more time (Fijiana Drua) spend together, the better they have got. They’re playing in a professional environment, training every day and they are getting better every day.
“For us, we’ve just got to stick to our structure. We don’t buy into other teams, we just want to lay the platform into what we want to do but we know they love an offload so defensively we have to work hard, not have those one-off tackles, going in for those double tackles and we’ve got to have that line speed to nullify that passing channel of the offload.”
The Waratahs have admittedly been below their best to start the season, hampered by a bevy of injuries and COVID withdrawals.
However, like any world-class team, they have found a way to win, sending a message with their 67-10 thumping of the Melbourne Rebels.
“It’s a building phase and I don’t think we’ve been quite lucky in terms of injuries and COVID ruling out players every week,” she admits.
“It’s been a staggered start and there’s been a lot of changes every week so the lack of consistency has hurt us a bit but as you can see, we’ve managed to be successful in that with all the depth we have here.
“I’m really proud of the girls for that but we know this week is going to be tough. We’re not shy to it, they’ve put a lot of points on teams so we know it’s going to be tough but we’re excited for the challenge.”
These two teams are relatively familiar with each other, with the Waratahs facing the Fijiana national side two years ago.
Hamilton was one of several current Waratahs to play in the 20-5 victory and credits the performance as one of the catalysts for their streak.
“I think that game a few years ago we played was really important,” Hamilton believes.
“That was one of my best Rugby moments I’ve ever heard and a lot of girls who played in that game will say the same, it was an unreal feeling within our team.
“We were playing a national team as a state side so we went out there with nothing to lose and you could see with the team, we were missing a few key players but the girls that stood up were unbelievable.”
With the pressure to step up with each win, the return of Wallaroo Arabella McKenzie is a welcome sight, having spent the first few rounds in NZ plying her trade in Super Rugby Aupiki.
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As the winning streak reaches 20 games, Hamilton believes the team have embraced the occasion, working with men's coach Darren Coleman in trying to counter whatever the Drua and the rest of the competition will throw at them.
“The pressure is always there but it’s something we have to embrace and I think that’s something girls thrive off,” she added.
“We had a good chat with DC (Darren Coleman) who said he liked coming to environments to try and get teams to turn around so he was like ‘I’ll tell you what I’d coach against you guys’ and that was very invaluable to us to learn what he would do to try and get us off our game and that’s something we’ve worked on.
“He was just so positive and was saying ‘if you don’t buy into this, this is what they’ll try and do and if you stay solid and don’t let them break you from your systems, you’ll be successful’ and that’s something we really want to do.
“I think at the start of the season, we came away from that so we’re trying to be regimented in that and stick to our systems. We know we have the talent out wide and in our backs so if we can lay the platform, we’ll be successful.”
