The NSW Waratahs' brutal run with injuries continues leaving coach Darren Coleman scratching his head after another front-rower went down injured during their 38-22 defeat to the Chiefs in Sydney.
The Waratahs entered the game with seven of the squad's 10 original contracted front-rowers sidelined, including all three hookers.
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In a cruel twist, they lost Hayden Thompson-Stringer before the game with a thigh cork, before Tom Ross, who started in his place, suffered an MCL injury in the opening minutes.
Ross bravely played out a further 40 minutes before he was subbed, leaving the Waratahs to play out the game with three Shute Shield props on injury cover contracts with a combined 17 minutes of Super Rugby experience.
“It doesn’t help but yeah there’s a few like that who had to go to the well tonight,” Coleman said.
“We effectively finished the game with three club front-rowers, couple of them who have only been in since Wednesday or Thursday so they’ll get another week with us and I’d like to think they’ll be a bit more across calling and systems.
“That wasn’t the reason we didn’t win that game today it was a combination of multiple facets of our game just not being on point.”
Coleman also confirmed Joey Walton suffered a foot injury whilst conceding Wallabies captain Dave Porecki will not feature in Super Rugby in 2024, still managing an Achilles issue.
“Dave’s done for a while now. They’re working on it and they feel like they’re getting closer to his situation but it’s just too tight (for him to return for the Waratahs)," he said.
“He hasn’t run for 10 weeks so when they do get the solution, it’s got to be a two month rebuild to get his calf and tendon strong enough again to be able to run and he’s got to recondition.”
Despite this, Coleman refused to blame the loss on the unprecedented lack of quality front-rowers, believing the game was there for the taking after leading 12-0 in the first quarter.
“We start with some good intent, controlled the 40 and put good pressure on them and got some pay,” Coleman said. “In the 2nd quarter there I was expecting the game was always goint to swing at different times but at half time at 12-all, I thought we were confident, comfortable and knew we had to continue to play well to stay in it. That was probably the disappointing aspect that we didn’t.
“We just didn’t play well in that second half and you just can’t keep giving them that many chances and squander that many chances yourself and expect to beat them. In all facets of the game, particularly in that second half, we’re just a little bit off.
“...The boys show ticker, they didn’t lose that game because we didn’t commit our body or didn’t rip in. It wasn’t long ago that they were competition favourites but I think just the relentlessness of them and whether it’s fatigue or lack of tropes, they start to roll over a bit at the end.
“They’re brave men and they’re very proud of who they play for and I’m proud to have them in my team. We’d just like to be a little bit more accurate and we’re disappointed because we had an opportunity there tonight to potentially steal an upset and we just weren’t quite good enough."
