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Tahs turn day into night for SA foray
Bret Harris | April 28, 2008 Tahs turn day into night for SA foray | The Australian
EWEN McKENZIE has planned the NSW Waratahs' hit-and-run mission to Pretoria to the last detail, even to the point of reversing the order of the players' meals on the flight to help overcome jet lag.
Waratahs hooker Adam Freier escapes with the ball from under the noses of the Sharks pack on Saturday. Picture: Daniel Munoz
The Waratahs depart at 10am on Thursday, or 2am in Pretoria where they will play the Bulls on Saturday. Even though it is in the morning, the players will avoid in-flight movies and try to sleep on the flight.
By changing the order of the meals, it is hoped the players' metabolism will have adjusted when the flight arrives in Johannesburg for the drive to Pretoria.
"We work with Qantas and we have changed the order of the meals on the plane," McKenzie said. "When you get on the plane, it's two o'clock in the morning. You sleep for the first five or six hours and then get up and have breakfast."
The Waratahs' late departure has surprised some observers, but it is consistent with their approach during the season.
The delayed departure worked well last year when they beat the Lions 25-16 in their first game of the season.
"If you look through the results teams get over there, last year only two teams won their first game in South Africa. We were one of them," McKenzie said. "This year, three teams have won their first game and a bunch of teams haven't. We've got our own thoughts about what the best preparation is for us.
"We believe that recovering from the game we've just had is important. Not getting on the aeroplane today is a plus for us and getting through our routine and preparation for the match.
"We'll do all our preparation for the Bulls and literally just fly over there and play the game.
"It's radical, I guess, in terms of rugby, but when you are talking soccer, for instance, when Australia plays here, they fly their guys out from Europe the day before."
While the Waratahs are pleased with their preparation for the Bulls, they are conscious of the fact they lost their second game in South Africa last year, 22-9 to the Sharks. Their second game on this trip is against the Stormers in Cape Town, which is looming as their biggest test in the run home to the play-offs.
"A lot of teams drop the second game," McKenzie said. "The challenge is to get the combination of the games right.
"How we handle that second week has been discussed at length for the last six months.
"It's the South African package we have to get right. We have even extended that to the Reds ... we are up there straight after, so we are dealing with this as a block of games all on the road. That's how we've done the whole season. We've done it in blocks."
The Waratahs moved to second place on the Super 14 table with their impressive 25-10 win, a record-equalling fifth in a row, against the Sharks in Sydney on Saturday night.
But no team, not even the table-topping Crusaders, has yet secured a position in the top four.
If the Waratahs do not beat the Bulls, they will find themselves under huge pressure to defeat the Stormers.
The Bulls are coming off a bye, but the defending champions have been distracted by Springboks second-rower Bakkies Botha taking court action to have his contract declared void so he can play for French club Toulon.
"There are things going on in and around the Bulls," McKenzie said. "For a team that won the title last year, they are out of contention, but they are probably in the same mode as the Reds. That spoiling type mode.
"They had a great win last game (against the Highlanders). They're capable of really good things. They haven't strung it together week in, week out.
"The Bulls is always a game I tick off in the calendar as one that's pretty important because of their reputation and success in recent years. They are not a team we will take lightly because they are the reigning champions."
McKenzie will name a 26-man touring party today, which is expected to include blindside flanker Rocky Elsom, rugby league convert Timana Tahu, five-eighth Daniel Halangau and prop Sekope Kepu.
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