Waratahs head coach Daryl Gibson has admitted that their loss to the Hurricanes means that they will have a difficult task to make the play offs.
The Waratahs and Brumbies are in a battle for the Australian Conference winners position as it awards the team a place in the play offs.
Both teams have 39 points but the Brumbies have one more win that the Waratahs so they lead the conference with one round remaining.
The Waratahs play the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland next week and no Australian team has won at the venue since 2013.
In contrast the Brumbies will be at home against the weakest team in the Australian Conference the Force.
The Brumbies wll go into the match as heavy favourites as the Force have struggled all season and have already been beaten by the Brumbies once this year.
Gibson says that he has come to the conclusion that they have to win well with a bonus point and hope that the Brumbies lose or win without a bonus point. Whatever happens the Waratahs need to earn more points than the Brumbies.
The Brumbies will also have the benefit of playing after the Waratahsnext week so when they kick off they will know exactly what they have to achieve to win the conference.
“We’ve got a more difficult task,” Gibson told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“You saw how well the Blues played against the Brumbies and so to go to Eden Park and firstly win and get a bonus [point] will be a hugely difficult task.”
When asked whether he felt the Waratahs would need a bonus point victory over the Blues Gibson said, “With all respect to the Force, I think they’re going through some teething issues and so on the Brumbies have probably got the easier of the fixtures.”
Gibson said that errors at at crucial moments was one of the main reasons for his team’s loss to the Hurricanes.
“At times we built pressure well and we let the Hurricanes off the hook with some mistakes and I think that was pretty costly,” Gibson said.
“We’d be more disappointed around the performance of our team. As we alluded to, those moments that we lost were crucial in the game and that’s the most disappointing thing.”
