NSW Waratahs hooker Robbie Abel insists his side will stick to their system despite some hard lessons from emphatic defeats in their first two Super Rugby games.
Losses by 18 to the Crusaders and 20 to the Blues have left the Waratahs without a point after two games, with the worst for and against differential in the 15-team competition.
Abel, who on Friday is is set to line up against this former team Melbourne Rebels – also on zero points – said the Tahs squad hadn’t been together as long as some of the other Australian Super teams.
“We’ve just got to keep trusting that the things that we’re doing are going to come,” Abel said.
“Though sometimes from the outside looking in the pictures may not seem as clear as they are to us. We’re creating a lot of opportunities.
“It might sound a bit weird to say because we haven’t knocked up a W (win) yet, but we’re confident that will come if we just keep trusting in what we’re doing and back ourself to execute the things that we’ve been shown.”
Defence and scrummaging are two areas the Tahs clearly need to improve in.
The 30-year-old hooker was part of a scrum that had some awkward moments against the Blues last week, including one when they were driven backwards on their own feed close to the Blues line and gave away a penalty.
“There were a lot of tough learnings there,” Abel said.
“We’ve got a couple of guys that are learning different positions in the scrum, so coming up against a couple of really good scrummagers there, we learnt a few lessons.
“But there’s no other way in set piece and in scrummaging to learn those things unless you’ve been there.”
Abel admitted criticism of a defence that had conceded 11 tries across their first two games stung.
“Oobviously against the Blues they are a very big team, that’s the kind of area that you have to bash them,” Abel said.
“You’ve got to get up and stop those big boys or they get a bit of a roll on, so we learnt a lot of hard lessons.”
Abel played seven games for Melbourne last year, but doubted whether he could offer any insights about the Rebels to his new team.
He said new Waratahs coach Rob Penney was very calm and positive in his dealings with the players but added “you also know when he means business.”
