The NSW Waratahs battled bravely but ultimately went down 27-12 to Moana Pasifika at Go Media Stadium.
NSW started the match in promising fashion when elusive winger Dylan Pietsch made a 50 metre break off a kick return in just the second minute to put the visitors in prime attacking field position.
Three minutes later it looked like the Waratahs had opened the scoring when Pietsch strolled down the left-hand touchline following a sublime cut-out pass from inside centre Lalakai Foketi.
Alas, Pietsch’s try was disallowed when the video referee picked up an earlier knock-on from Jake Gordon.
Gordon nearly scored himself in the ninth minute when a ball back on the inside from a Ned Hanigan bust was knocked down by the Moana cover defence.
Pasifika wrestled back momentum and managed to hit the front when fullback Kyren Taumoefolau pierced through a gap in the Tahs’ defence to score in the 16th minute.
Ten minutes later, Moana extended their lead out even further, when winger Fine Inisi and outside centre Pepesana Patafilo combined down the right-hand flank. Their terrific interchange of passing resulted in Inisi crossing from long range.
William Havili’s second successful conversion took the home team’s advantage out to 14 at half-time.
Inisi was at again in the second stanza, notching a double inside the opening minute after some nice work from inside centre Julian Savea.
Havili added a penalty goal 11 minutes after before former Waratah Sekope Kepu then muscled his way over from close range to take Moana’s lead out to 27.
NSW fought their way back and posted two consecutive tries to get themselves back into the contest.
Firstly, Number 8 Langi Gleeson crashed over in the 64th minute, before the Waratahs went the length of the field in the 70th.
Izaia Perese sent a long ball out to Pietsch who scorched down the left flank before finding Perese in support who raced the remaining 35 metres to score.
The two back-to-back tries denied Moana of a bonus point, but unfortunately for the Tahs, it was too little too late, as Pasifika held on for a 27-12 victory.
“It's the story of our season really, we’re just not executing well,” Head Coach Darren Coleman lamented.
“I thought our effort and energy was good. I thought the boys moved around the field with speed and ripped into the collisions against a physical team. It just gets eroded though with so many errors. They did a good job to not let that energy and intent evaporate but it’s hard to win games with poor execution.
“We had six or seven knock-ons in that first half and our football decisions in general weren’t up to scratch. Our skill execution at times was poor and it hurt us.
“We had a good day in terms of line breaks compared to them, but we left a significant number of points out there again from not being able to execute.
“Moana at home isn’t a walk in the park and every time they seemed to make a line break they scored off it.”
Coleman wants to see his side learn their lessons but also move on from this defeat promptly with an upcoming match against traditional rivals Queensland at Allianz Stadium on Friday night fast approaching.
“I just want to see smiles on faces to finish off the year and unfortunately we couldn’t get that tonight. They’ve tried hard, we just haven’t been good enough to get the rewards.
“With the Reds at home next week we’ve got to wipe this pretty quick so that we can finish on a high. If we can finish with a nice result against an arch-enemy, it would be a positive way to finish the year.”
Moana Pasifika 27
Tries: Fine Inisi 2, Kyren Taumoefolau, Sekope Kepu
Goals: William Havili 2/4
Penalty Goals: William Havili 1/1
NSW Waratahs 12
Tries: Langi Gleeson, Izaia Perese
Goals: Jack Bowen 1/2
