Following those early weeks, Blues captain Dalton Papali’i has often made mention of wanting to see the fight from his team out on the pitch.
Under the lights in Sydney, they showed plenty of it.
It was a rather strange game of rugby, too.
Almost alluding to the bizarre script that was to follow, the Waratahs made a meal of the opening kickoff and give the Blues great field position immediately. They were made to pay for it, the visitors striking first through halfback Finlay Christe in the third minute.
The hosts didn’t appear to be too bothered by having to chase the game and consistently broke the Blues open. With plenty of success going down their right-hand side, it was surprising that they could not put the finishing touches on one of those moves.
In one instance, fullback Sid Harvey failed to release winger Harry Potter. Another saw No 10 Jack Debreczeni complete a lovely chip and chase, looking a chance of getting to the line by himself but thinking better of it and throwing a hopeful pass to a teammate, which was easily defended. And those weren’t the only chances gone begging.
It was perhaps testament to the Blues’ scramble defence that even when No 8 Malachi Wrampling was sin-binned for a high shot, they did not concede a try.
Instead, it was an almost comical moment that saw the Waratahs finally cross the line. Blindside flanker Clem Halohalo seemed to lose the ball forward, but it fell into the hands of Debreczeni. The Blues players closest to him stopped playing, assuming a knock-on call would come, and Debreczeni beat Beauden Barrett one-on-one to score. The television match official (TMO) cleared the build-up as going backwards and the try stood.
They then barged over from close range through prop Tom Lambert to hold a comfortable 17-8 lead at the break.
Falling further behind after a Waratahs penalty early in the match, the Blues needed to make something happen or risk the game getting away from them.
They chose the former, dominating possession, taking advantage of a lopsided penalty count and plenty of Waratahs errors to begin to create opportunities in the hosts’ defence. Eventually, they capitalised through right wing Codemeru Vai then centre A.J. Lam, the two crossing within eight minutes of each other before a Barrett penalty saw the side draw level at 20-20.
A second try to Lam, then one late score to Torian Barnes saw the Blues not only secure the win, but also a vital bonus point as well.
Blues 35 (A.J. Lam 2, Finlay Christie, Codemeru Vai, Torian Barnes tries; Beauden Barrett 2 cons, 2 pens)
Waratahs 20 (Jack Debreczeni, Tom Lambert tries; Sid Harvey 2 cons, 2 pens)
HT: 8-17
