“Amongst the coaching staff we were actually trying to speculate what they would come with, I was actually of the opinion — and it was also mentioned in the match program — that they’d definitely put the ball in behind us, and then I knew that’s not going to be the case,” Coetzee said.
“They would try to overpower us, outmuscle us, and use their skilful backs to run at us.
“That is why we knew we had to disrupt the breakdown, slow it down, get some numbers on our feet and a bit of line-speed, and it worked in our favour.
“What they said they didn’t do in the [match] program, that they’ll look for territory and that is where they will look to put the squeeze on and make it hard for us to exit, and play from our mistakes.”
The defeat has left the Waratahs in 10th position on the Super Rugby table, and they blew the chance to close the gap on Australian conference leaders the Brumbies, who had suffered defeat in Auckland the night before.
The clash between NSW and the Brumbies in Canberra on May 1 will likely decide the conference winner, and the Brumbies have suffered a major blow with Wallaby pair Matt Toomua and Scott Sio likely to miss that game after suffering injuries.
The playmaker and the prop are expected to be sidelined for up to a month each, which would rule them out of coming games against Melbourne, the Highlanders, and the crunch game against the Tahs, after which they will embark on a tough South African tour playing the Stormers and Lions.
