Much tougher tests await, starting with the Reds on Friday, but new Waratahs coach Darren Coleman is already winning rave reviews after snapping a 538-day Super Rugby drought with a 40-10 trouncing of the Drua in Round 1.
“With DC it’s complete passion,” NSW prop Angus Bell said after a fine performance.
“Before the match he talked about how he’s wanted this job for 20 years and how he’s been building his career as a coach to get to this point.
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“He’s a great people motivator as well as a coach and really got the boys bound together. We’ve all bought into the team culture and we’re really lucky to have someone like DC push us forward.”
Coleman returned to Sydney after winning the Major League Rugby title in his first season with the LA Giltinis.
He previously won Shute Shield titles with Warringah in 2017 and Gordon in 2020.
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Coleman has also coached Penrith, Northern Suburbs and Eastern Suburbs in the Sydney competition and worked as an assistant at the Waratahs and Brumbies – in addition to roles in Japan, Italy and the NSW Country Eagles.
“Counting the days can always tell a story,” former NSW coach Michael Cheika said on Stan Sport, in reference to the painful losing streak that dated back to 2020.
“Now you have to count the days since the last loss and it’s a long time too. Because what’s really happening is what’s coming next. Yes, good start but I’m sure coach Coleman will be really clear on the context of the victory and what he needs to take the team forward to the next step.
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“But I think Waratahs fans will be pretty happy with what they saw. The performance had a lot of pragmatism.”
Further buoyed by the impending return of Kurtley Beale, NSW now sets its sights on a top of the table clash with Brad Thorn’s Reds at Leichhardt Oval on Friday.
Coleman said his young team was keeping the drought-breaking win in perspective.
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“With all due respect to the Drua, it was a win at home against a new team. It wasn’t like we beat the Chicago Bulls. We understand there are much bigger challenges coming.”
The Waratahs didn’t do anything flashy in Round 1.
In many ways they let the Drua beat themselves and simply did the basics well.
They will need to dig deeper into the kit bag to topple Queensland but it was a promising start.
“That is a team that’s well drilled and can trust each other to problem solve when they get try-scoring opportunities,” former Wallabies lock Justin Harrison said on Stan Sport.
“That’s a forward pack that’s trained hard and worked hard. Every single player knows what they’re doing, to create that sort of harmony and physicality requires a lot of attention to detail.”
Coleman also revealed that he laid traps with players during initial one-on-one meetings to see if there were splinters or gremlins within the squad.
There weren’t.
“We have a lot of young boys, and the core leadership is solid,” Bell said.
“Last year was one of the worst years we’ve all had individually but I couldn’t fault anyone. If anything it made us tighter. From that we grow and trust and work together and stay tough for moments like these where we have to stay tough, like on the bell when they (Drua) were down in our 22 for 10 minutes, and can pull through and get a positive result.”
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