Waratahs captain Michael Hooper has called for patience from his side this weekend, as they vie for their second home win of the year.
The Waratahs clung on to a 29-26 win over the Queensland Reds last weekend after a marathon final sequence, where they held out the home side for close to 30 phases.
It’s a defensive pressure rarely seen from the Waratahs this season and importantly one that came without conceding a penalty that could have evened up the scores.
That passage was one that the Waratahs held up as an example of what they want to do in games, Hooper said
“We’ve had large penalty counts throughout the year in different games and then to keep our penalty count last week and then get the win on the back of our defence and not giving away a penalty was really positive,” he said.
“So it was a really good point for us from the last game. It shows we can do it and we’ve got to reinforce that we can do it against a different team with a different style of attack.”
NSW also moved to bank points when they got them against the Reds and despite their commitment to running the ball, Hooper said if points were there to be had, they’d have no qualms about doing that again.
“What helped us last week was building the pressure. For us mentally just seeing the scoreboard tick over was really nice,” he said.
“We were able to restart well, which was a work on the week before against the Kings. so getting scoreboard pressure was a real positive for us last week.
“Tomorrow night’s a different game, so we’ll see how it plays out there.”
The Waratahs had a change of scenery on Friday, with their captain’s run at Centennial Park rather than Allianz Stadium for the second week in a row, after training there before leaving for Brisbane last week.
“Last week, we had our run down here on the Friday before we went home to Brisbane,” Hooper said.
“It’s hard to say whether it makes a difference come game night.
“When you do get days like this, it makes you appreciate how lucky we have it and how good our job is.”
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The Waratahs host the Blues on Saturday night, kicking off at 7:45pm AEST LIVE on FOX SPORTS and via RUGBY.com.au.