The Waratahs won’t be tempering abrasive backrower Lachie Swinton after their pack showed a winning edge against the Lions.
Forwards coach Matt Cockbain praised his team’s edge after their 29-17 win over the Waratahs and said they wanted to see more of it.
Flanker Lachie Swinton set the tone for NSW for much of the night and one ill-timed tackle saw him slapped with a yellow card.
Cockbain said they didn’t want to temper Swinton’s aggression but that the youngster would learn from moments like his binning.
“A guy like Lachie Swinton's a perfect example, you don't want to take that edge away from him because that's him and I like the fact that he has that, I guess that red mist, get angry and then smack guys and really make an impact there,” he said.
“There's always a level of control and fine line and he probably crossed over a little bit and we lost him for 10 minutes tonight so that was disappointing.
"Hopefully, he learned a bit of a lesson but in terms of generally, we won't temper him because that's one of his best assets is to play with that aggression, is to play really tough rugby like that.”
The Waratahs looked to their forwards in attack plenty against the Lions, and it paid off with four from their five tries coming through the pack.
A move to have their forwards on the edges resulted in three of those tries and Cockbain said it was promising to see that work vindicated.
“When you do have a bit of a change in a system, it does take - the change that we're having it's an 18 month project basically to get it to where it's really automatic and so we've got to break down some habits, reprogram and continue to work on the little things.
“When you're not 100% per cent sure with stuff sometimes that's when little errors can creep in, so they're clear with what we need to do but under fatigue, sometimes that breaks down so we've just got to continue to train it, make sure it gets ingrained so that when we are under fatigue we just revert to what we want to do.“
While he was quick to say the team’s improvement would be a gradual one, seeing their efforts result in a win was a timely shot of confidence.
“We've spoken a lot about confidence in the group and just putting the work in, the way you get confident is put the work in and that's what you're trying to do during the week and build on that week to week.
“It takes a hit when you lose and so then it's about trying to rebuild that again. Great this week, we're starting off on a higher plane already bu we'll knock them down real quick to reset and go again for the Chiefs because that's going to be a massive game.
“ They're coming off being belted against the Brumbies last week, the Brumbies played extremely well. They'll be ready to go so we need to be too.”
The Waratahs take on the Chiefs on Friday March 6 at WIN Stadium, Wollongong, kicking off at 7:15pm AEDT, LIVE on Foxtel, Kayo Sports and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO. Buy tickets here.
