The NSW Waratahs began their campaign under new Head Coach Dan McKellar with an emphatic 43-17 victory over the Kubota Spears in Tokyo in Japan on Friday.
The seven-try-to-three win by the NSW Waratahs at Edogawa Stadium will have provided McKellar with much to be happy about as the squad faces their next phase of preparation for the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season that starts on 14 February.
Friday’s game against the Kubota Spears was the NSW Waratahs’ first game since assembling for pre-season training at their base in Daceyville, Sydney five weeks ago.
In warm conditions that saw some cloud cover in the second half and before a vibrant crowd, the game was an entertaining encounter. Both sides showed enterprising play.
While happy for the outcome, McKellar will still return to Sydney on Sunday with the twenty-five-strong squad he took knowing there are areas they will need to work on.
“First hit out for a new team, new group – players and coaching staff – there are some good things on both sides of the ball,” McKellar said.
“Some things were a bit rusty as you would expect after week five of pre-season.
"There hasn’t been a whole lot of focus on the game. It’s been more about the training.
“I am pleased with a lot of their efforts. Some individuals really put their hands up and performed well.
“I was also pleased with how we defended in the last ten minutes when we could have easily conceded a couple of tries, soft tries and see the score even up a little.
“Overall, it’s a solid start and gives us something to review."
Second rower Hugh Sinclair, the NSW Waratahs co-captain with Charlie Gamble, was happy with the outcome considering it was the group’s first match.
“Pre-season games are pretty scrappy,” Sinclair said. “But we are pleased to get the win. We ran away with it there at the end. It was tight at half-time.
“There are plenty of things to work on, plenty of positives. It was a cool experience.”
The NSW Waratahs led 19-10 at half-time. But then, and with both sides using their bench, they ran away with the game in the second half scoring four more tries-to-one.
Kubota, playing without their former Wallabies and Waratahs star Bernard Foley, were first to score in the fourth minute.
After Kubota forced a turnover, winger Jennings Tsuyoshi chased down the kick that followed and scored to put the hosts up 5-0.
But the NSW Waratahs soon answered back after a Kubota player was sin-binned.
NSW Waratahs five-eighth Jack Bowen kicked for touch to force a line-out five metres out from the Kubota try line that the NSW Waratahs won.
From the ensuing play, half-back Teddy Wilson ran and dummied to score and put the NSW Waratahs level at 5-5.
The NSW Waratahs then extended the lead to 12-5 in the fifteenth minute when winger Archie Saunders’ try was converted by Bowen.
Then Kubota fought back to be 12-10 down with a second unconverted try scored by captain and five-eighth Tomoki Kishioka.
But the NSW Waratahs did not panic. They seized the opportunity to score their third try in the thirty-third minute, after winning their lineout forced by another kick for touch by Bowen.
Three phases later Bowen passed to full-back James Hendren to score. Bowen converted the try to put the NSW Waratahs up 19-10 going into the half-time break.
In the second half, a converted try after ten minutes by inside centre Joey Walton off an inside pass by half-back Jack Grant, who replaced Wilson, extended the lead to 26-10.
Kubota answered with a converted try by Hibiki Yamada fifteen minutes later to draw back the score to 26-17, but two tries by inside centre Lukas Ripley within a few minutes of each other led to a 38-17 score to virtually put the game out of reach for Kubota.
Another five-pointer by winger Triston Reilly extended it to 43-17 to seal the hosts’ fate.
Tries: Teddy Wilson, Archie Saunders, James Hendren, Joey Walton, Lukas Ripley (2), Triston Reilly
Goals: Jack Bowen (3/4), Joey Fowler (1/3)
Tries: Jennings Tsuyoshi, Tomoki Kishioka, Hibiki Yamada
Goals: (1/3)
