Waratahs book final berth
The Waratahs will meet the Crusaders in the Super 14 final after beating a woeful Sharks outfit 28-13 in a one-sided semi-final in Sydney.
Last Updated: 25/05/08 2:12pm
The Waratahs will meet the Crusaders in the Super 14 final after beating a woeful Sharks outfit 28-13 in a one-sided semi-final in Sydney.
It was a miserable send-off for Dick Muir who's memorable reign as Sharks coach came to a less memorable and abrupt end in front of a sold-out Sydney Football Stadium.
The Sharks discovered the hard way in the second half that ball retention was fool's gold after they failed to turn any of their possesion into points minus what ultimately was a mere consolation try for replacement hooker Craig Burden.
Commited, solid and bone-crunching Waratahs defence played a huge role in keeping the South Africans from crossing the whitewash more often with forwards and backs alike combining well to keep the Sharks at bay.
In total contrast to the Waratahs' performance, the Sharks had no structure to their play and failed to find any sort of rhythm.
Drop-goal
The Sharks were first on the scoreboard when fly-half Ruan Pienaar kicked an early drop goal, which was answered by a Kurtley Beale penalty shortly after.
The Waratahs then went ahead when Sharks centre Francois Steyn spilled the ball under pressure and winger Lote Tuqiri scooped it up and ran 22 metres to score.
The hosts crossed again soon after when centre Rob Horne finished off a swarming attacking move and crossed in the corner.
Steyn kicked a penalty from 50 metres out to narrow the gap to 15-6 at half-time, but the suffered a double blow soon after the break, when first Beale crossed out wide, then scrum-half Luke Burgess intercepted a pass from the base of the scrum and racedc in untouched.
Final word
The Waratahs should have been out of sight but Beale was struggling with the boot - one conversion from the first four attempts - and the lead was only 25-6.
Sharks replacement hooker Craig Burden barged over by the sticks for a converted try with 10 minutes left, but NSW had the final say when Beale kicked a drop-goal three minutes from time to send the Waratahs to Canterbury for next week's final.
