SYDNEY, Australia -- Their set-piece is in need of urgent attention before they face the Stormers next week, but the Waratahs' big guns gave fans a glimpse of the devastation they are capable of creating in a final preseason hit-out on Thursday night.
The Waratahs' 47-5 win over Melbourne Rebels at Lottloland, formerly Brookvale Oval, was not as comfortable as the scoreline suggested with the hosts only pulling away during the final 25 minutes.
And it was within that period that Bernard Foley, Kurtley Beale and Israel Folau - the Waratahs' attacking axis - blew out some cobwebs while recruits Lalakai Foketi, Alex Newsome and Curtis Rona all found open space.
Earlier, however, the Waratahs looked like a team still getting to know one another while their set-piece was completely inferior; the Rebels pinching multiple lineouts and picking up penalties at scrum time.
"I thought the first half we were really rusty, it looked like we had opportunities there that we didn't really take through our poor execution and skill," Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson said.
"At times the ball looked like it was a cake of soap and both teams couldn't really hold onto it. And it wasn't until the game broke up a little in the second half, and we got some better ruck speed and some go-forward that the game turned our way."
When that ruck speed did eventually arrive, the Waratahs were able to force the Rebels onto the back foot and create time and space for Foley, who'd endured a torrid first half through the contact zone. The hosts were also helped by the fact the Rebels had two men in the sin-bin during the third quarter.
It also allowed Foley to drop a perfectly placed cross-kick onto the head of Dane Haylett-Petty, Folau soaring above the Rebels recruit in a play that will likely become a Waratahs favourite this season.
But it was a sweeping counter-attack that really brought the Lottoland crowd to its feet after Rona fielded a Rebels' box-kick and weaved his way through a fractured chase. The former Force winger then offloaded to Beale, who handled twice in quick succession, before the ball passed through Bryce Hegarty and Michael Hooper; Folau eventually providing the final pass to power over in the corner.
"KB [Beale] and Rona, both coming back; I was really pleased with Lalakai Foketi, he's a player who's come through the age grades in Australia and has come back from New Zealand a much better player. I thought he showed some nice touches," Gibson said of his midfield options.
"And I thought Bryce Hegarty, he's been one of our top performers during preseason, he's a smart player. He showed that tonight."
Creating similar space and time on the ball will be the challenge for the Waratahs in their season opener against the Stormers, the South African franchise renowned for their lineout prowess and resilient defence. Waratahs hookers Damian Fitzpatrick and Tolu Latu will have their work cut out for them, though towering Springboks lock and lineout supremo Eben Etzebeth will be a notable absentee.
"I think we'd be a bit disappointed with some our execution tonight, early on we lost three lineouts which didn't allow us to get into the game in terms of sustaining pressure and keeping possession," Gibson said. "So a little bit of work will go into that.
"Perhaps we didn't show a great deal tonight, around our lineout; we didn't want to reveal too much and that kind of backfired." Meanwhile, Rebels coach Dave Wessels wasn't overly perturbed by the scoreline, saying his side had done what they'd come to Sydney to do.
"We wanted to do a couple of things in the game, one was our set-piece and the other one was probably our defence," Wessels said. "Certainly for the first 40 [or] 50 minutes of the game, I thought we did a good job on both of those. We were aggressive defensively, obviously we made some errors, and then our set-piece I think we really dominated; we took a lot of ball off them and we did really what we wanted at lineout time."