New forwards coach Matt Cockbain says the Waratahs plan to emulate the mauling strength of the Brumbies to help get NSW back into the winner’s circle in 2020.
Cockbain, the decorated former Wallaby backrower who was in Australia's 1999 World Cup winning team, has come on board as forwards coach for the Tahs after Simon Cron left for Japan.
He is one of an almost brand-new coaching staff at the Waratahs, following the departures of Daryl Gibson, Cron, Steve Tandy and, among others, strength and conditioning boss Brad Harrington.
Only backs coach Chris Whitaker remains under new head coach Rob Penney.
Like the rest, Cockbain’s job is as simple as it is complex: strip back and re-build the Waratahs forward game after a poor 12th-placed finish in 2019, which rounded out a largely forgettable back-half of the decade.
Cockbain’s personnel in the pack has arguably not been as badly affected by star departures in the backs, with Sekope Kepu, Tolu Latu, Michael Wells and Will Miller the major forwards lost.
But ahead of their first trial match against the Highlanders on Friday in Sydney, Cockbain has been using his first Sydney summer to concentrate on what the Waratahs pack has to gain to be more consistently competitive in 2020.
Namely, a better maul - to both score tries and to deny them.
"You look at their set-piece and statistically it wasn’t too bad (in 2019),” Cockbain said.
"We want to continue to make that strong and build on that as a go-to.
"But in the set-piece we want to be doing a bit better with our lineout mauling, and our maul defence, too.
"We have had a heightened focus on that area. It can be a very dominant weapon. You see how effective a team like the Brumbies are at it.”
The Brumbies have developed a reputation in the last decade as having the best rolling maul in Super Rugby, and while it occasionally gets criticised as boring, there’s no doubt it's effectiveness when done well.
Their top try-scorer is routinely the “tail-gunner” of their maul, and Folau Faingaa finished third highest in Super Rugby last year with 12 tries.
The Waratahs were one of many teams beaten by the Brumbies last year on the back of rolling maul tries, and in similarly scripted encounters, they have only beaten their ACT rivals once in their last seven games.
"From watching a bit of footage, and particularly the game at Bankwest Stadium, we struggled a bit against their maul,” Cockbain said.
"Probably more just at a couple of key moments made the wrong decision and failed to get in the right spaces early enough, and understand what the Brumbies were trying to do them. It’s a tactical thing as well.”
“Getting a better workrate out of them as well was a focus, and just giving them the ability in general play so they can use their skills, so we can use width if we need to or play tight if we need to. Just building on that overall weaponry.”
The Waratahs have had a smaller pack than most over the last few seasons, and accordingly, built a game more based on tempo and skill. Attempts to use the maul in attack largely didn’t work or ended in turnovers - they only scored one try - and maul defence was hot-and-cold, too.
There has been no great influx of recruited bulk into the Waratahs forwards stable in 2020, however.
The Waratahs used backrow-convert Jed Holloway in the second row last year, and Ned Hanigan has shifted between lock and back row for the last few seasons.
Cockbain admits he is looking to use big men in the locking rotation.
"Ideally you would probably want one more bigger lock in there,” Cockbain said.
“Simmo (Rob Simmons), Ryan McCauley and Tom Staniforth are our dedicated locks and we have guys who can mix and match in there. We have guys who can cover the position.
"But there will certainly be times when we have to use guys in their no.2 position but I don’t see that as a problem.
"I did that when I was playing and while it requires a few changes, it doesn’t change the way you play or what you can bring to the game.”
Wells was the starting no.8 for NSW in 2019 but has since moved to the Rebels.
"Jed is definitely a possibility to move back to eight, and a guy like Jack Dempsey is pretty suited to eight as well. He has good handling and is quick off the back of the scrum,” Cockbain said.
"And also a guy like Ned, who can cover six, eight and no.8, and he played there last year.
"There are some newer guys in there too like Hugh Sinclair and Will Harris too. So it’s not like we are short of a number eight. There are options there. We are not thinking ‘gee we have to go out and get a no.8’.”
Cockbain is a big fan of Lachie Swinton as a no.6. too.
The loss of Kepu and Latu will provide challenges for the Waratahs scrum but Cockbain says they have sufficient depth at both tighthead prop and hooker, and in conjunction with new scrum coach Mark Bell, he'll be aiming to simplify NSW’s scrummaging work in 2020.
"What I have probably focussed on is looking at the basics a bit more, and being very good there,” Cockbain said.
"Let’s scrum well together and that is providing a platform for the guy next to you. Low, square, straight - that’s been a common language for us. If we all do that together, you are going to be difficult to scrum against.
"I think maybe in the past we have been doing a bit a much tactically, and got caught out a few times. We will just hit those basics hard and aim to be consistent.”
Michael Hooper and Simmons were the final Wallabies to return to training last week but the Waratahs no not plan to deploy any Test stars in their opening trial against the Highlanders at Leichhardt Oval on Friday night.
