The NSW Waratahs reset has officially begun as the Tahs shed last year's loser tag to open the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season with a 40-10 win over newcomers the Fijian Drua, more than 538 days since their last victory in 2020.
For months the Waratahs labelled the lead-up to the 2022 season "the reset". A new coach was brought in, players -- old and new -- were welcomed to the fold, while they flooded their social channels with the phrase, as they prepared to undergo a huge turnaround after a long and tiring 2021 season.
Within minutes from kickoff there was already a different feel to this Tahs team than from a year earlier. Under a barrage early from a fired up Drua team determined to make their mark on this competition, NSW held strong and withstood the attack before quickly flicking the switch to counter and within seconds moved from five metres from their line to within the Drua 22-metres.
Minutes later the Waratahs were rewarded for their attacking raids within the Drua territory with Will Harris finishing off a pick and drive move to dive beside the post and score NSW's first try of 2022. Three penalty goals from the boot of Ben Donaldson and a try to Dave Porecki from the back of the rolling maul took the Tahs to a healthy 21-3 lead at the break.
It was already a taste of what new coach Darren Coleman had worked so hard over the pre-season to bring into the Waratahs' game. There was unity in the defensive line, their attack looked threatening throughout, while their set piece -- especially their rolling maul -- dominated.
"Yeah, Pauli Taumoepeau has done an excellent job," Coleman said post-match. "Pauli's got that group, they're a little team within a team and they got a great little vibe amongst themselves. I'm not allowed in half their meetings because they've got little secret shakes and carry on that they've got going.
"But he's got them so well drilled and they care for each other, and they're ripping into the opposition and yeah, as an overall coach it's just a positive thing when you see your scrum going forward and you know you can kick out and really put pressure in their line out.
"We can't get ahead of ourselves, probably the Fijians would be the first to admit the set piece is something that's going to have to improve and we'll have to go up another notch next week, but judging on tonight, I'm really happy."
While the cohesion amongst the NSW team was notable, it was their almost unbendable defensive line that was the number one talking point. After conceding the most line breaks across Super Rugby last year and over 260 points in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman, the Tahs managed to shut down much of the Drua's attacking weapons, only conceding the one try in the 65th minute.
"Definitely the defensive effort [was the highlight], especially against a dangerous team like the Drua," Tahs captain Jake Gordon said. "We knew we had to play at the right end of the field and take the emotion out of the game by taking points early, we definitely did that.
"Even at the finish of the game, there are teams that would roll over in those last five minutes and give them that last try and to see us fight and not give them another try was really pleasing."
After his first win as the Waratahs coach a smiling Coleman wouldn't take the credit for the team's massive turnaround in defence, quickly praising defensive coach Jason Gilmore.
"All credit to Jason Gilmore, he's done an amazing job with our defence, he's a world class defence coach. Besides commitment, the boys have got clarity, they know where they're going off different phases, they know what they're trying to do.
"We got a few lessons out of that, like they're a harder team to choke and hold up, they're big boys and they get metres post-contact. We probably didn't get everything right around some of our tackle selection, but you put Gilly's technical knowledge and the boys heart into it and we showed up right at the end.
"I say that you don't have to be perfect to win a game of footy, you don't have to win every battle to win the war, you just got to win most of them, and you can make an error and then defend like we did.
"We made a few errors in that last 20, but we defended with our nuts out and really sort of kept them out."
The 17 missed tackles, and scrappiness in the final stages of the match, couldn't be ignored however. The hosts conceded 21 penalties, a yellow card after the siren, and came very close to giving away a penalty try in the final moments. It'll play heavily on Coleman's mind as they prepare for next week's clash with Super Rugby AU champions the Reds.
Meanwhile, the Drua, in their first ever Super Rugby clash, never backed down. Heading into the match with the odds against them, and just the one preseason clash under their belts -- a win over the Melbourne Rebels -- they came out of the blocks firing in a heated clash that broke out several times into shirt-fronting.
Captain Nemani Nagusa was the standout for Drua and led from the front, making plenty of bone crunching tackles before he crashed through for Fiji's first ever Super Rugby try. The moment received the biggest cheer of the night as the thousands of Fiji fans got to their feet to celebrate.
But the little things just didn't seem to go Drua's way. On several occasions they were metres from the line, pressuring the Tahs defence only for dropped balls, loose carries and lineout accuracy to cruel their chances. After only four months together and less than a year to prepare for the Super stage though, nothing could be taken away from their achievement.
"I think that the boys found out tonight what Super Rugby is about and they went out there and expressed themselves, and I'm really proud of the way they fought out the game and hung in there and they threw everything at it," Drua coach Mick Byrne said.
"So really proud of our first step out into Super Rugby 22 debuts, so we learned a lot.
"[Building connections] that's how we looked at it. I think there was three or four balls we turned over in the attacking 22, that's just you know, we threw a couple of passes that usually you know sometimes can come off, but yeah, we turned over a couple of line outs so it's all just combinations and I think the pace of the game.
"The boys now really realize what Super Rugby is all about and the room in there is excited to be part of it."
It wasn't quite elation from Coleman as they sang the team song and broke out singing in the change room, but for the Tahs, a long drought that began on the 29th of August 2020 has finally come to an end, the reset for 2022 has begun and their eyes now turn to the many challenges they face ahead in the remainder of Super Rugby Pacific.