Waratahs Tear Cats Apart

The NSW Waratahs have run amok in their round five Super 14 clash against the Cats, hammering the South African based side 50-3 tonight at the Sydney Football Stadium.

NSW dominated the match from start to finish scoring seven tries to easily secure a bonus point and in the process recorded the biggest victory seen so far in the 2006 Super 14 season.

The Waratahs had a field day with struggling Cats side, forcing them into error at both the scrum and lineout, but the South African’s did little to help their own cause missing an astronomical 30 tackles for the match and that led to NSW making a whopping12 line breaks for the 80 minutes.

Mat Rogers made his first start at fly half for the Waratahs and coach Ewen McKenzie will now feel that he has finally solved the number 10 jersey riddle that has plagued him in recent times after watching the dual international’s man of the match performance.

“It was a sensational effort from Mat,” said NSW captain Chris Whittaker.

“He is just a natural football player. He didn’t get too many instructions out there. He just got told to go out and play footy because that’s what he does best.”

The former rugby league star was instrumental in the Waratahs fast start to the game as he produced a great individual try that saw him step straight through the Cats defensive line before using his explosive speed to swerve around the full back to score the opener in the fourth minute of the game.

Winger Peter Hewat made light work of the tough conversion attempt to put the home side ahead 7-0.

Two minutes later NSW scored a beautiful back line try with Rogers, Shaun Berne and Lote Tuquri all handling the ball before Hewat received the footy to race away and score untouched.

The Cats tried to halt the Waratahs momentum with an Earl Rose penalty goal, but it did little to slow down the rampant NSW side as flanker Wycliff Palu punished the visitors for a turnover at the lineout by barging over from close range to score his first ever try at the Super 14 level (21-3).

The forwards got into the action in the 32nd minute forming a driving maul from a lineout close to the try line and after a couple of big pushes they shoved their way over with hooker Adam Freier being the gleeful recipient of the easy try (28-3).

With the win and bonus point already in hand the Waratahs decided to have a little fun shortly before half time with second rower Dan Vickerman cleverly throwing the ball back down to Freier from the lineout and the bustling hooker quickly scrambled over the five metres needed to crash over in the right hand corner for his second try of the match.

Hewat made it 5/5 with his hardest conversion of the match to send NSW into the main break with a massive 35-3 lead.

With only for and against to play for in the second stanza the Waratahs kicked an early penalty goal through Hewat to extend their advantage to 35 points and the lead increased further when prop Benn Robinson dived over in the 64th minute for the home side’s sixth try of the match (43-3).

Replacement full back Daniel Halangahu put the icing on the cake in the 74th minute when he snaked his way through some feeble Cats defence to score underneath the black dot and with Hewat’s conversion NSW became the first side to crack the half century this Super 14 season.

The Waratahs will look to continue their fine form next Friday night when they take on newcomers the Western Force at Subiaco Oval in Perth, while the Cats face the daunting task of playing last year’s champions the Canterbury Crusaders in Christchurch in a week’s time.

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