AAA<\/p>\n
When another disappointing Waratahs season is dissected at the end of the campaign, the 31-26 loss to the Highlanders will be hard evidence of how much they have relied on warhorse captain Matt Philip.<\/p>\n
Without Philip, the Waratahs\u2019 tight five looked big in stature but didn\u2019t play big: a criticism that is starting to stick like mud to some of their individuals up front.<\/p>\n
Their scrum was decimated, and when they gave up a soft maul turnover after 15 minutes, coach Dan McKellar looked like he was ready to explode.<\/p>\n
The Highlanders have an exceptional scrum, but their level of domination from the outset was borderline embarrassing for the Waratahs.<\/p>\n
It can only be inferred that the Waratahs\u2019 attitude wasn\u2019t right, despite the fixture\u2019s critical importance to their play-off hopes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no guarantee Suaalii will start for the Wallabies<\/p>\n
If the Wallaby is going to shoot out of the defensive line, he needs to make those tackles stick. But he had bad misses on two players leading to the Highlanders\u2019 first try, and the absence of Joey Walton in the midfield \u2013 another glue player like Philip \u2013 was keenly felt.<\/p>\n
![\"Joseph-Aukuso](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2fe0b552fc0cfa5fb97a4e90e0e3625eb65d7536.jpeg\")
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii impressed in attack against the Highlanders, but made some costly defensive decisions.Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Suaalii scrutiny can be overboard, but he\u2019s inviting it with plays like that. He certainly posted good attack statistics, but that was against a Highlanders team that played without a midfielder for 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
The intelligent Six Nations teams arriving in July know how to attack that No.13 channel, so Suaalii\u2019s defensive issues are a concern. The debate about his best position is firmly back on the table, with Hunter Paisami currently playing the house down at No.12 for the Reds and Len Ikitau being a natural No.13.<\/p>\n
At present, there is a scenario where Suaalii doesn\u2019t necessarily start for Australia.<\/p>\n
Super Rugby Team of the Week<\/p>\n
1. Tom Robertson (Force), 2. Lachlan Lonergan (Brumbies), 3. Apolosi Ranawai (Waratahs), 4. Seru Uru (Reds), 5. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (Reds), 6. Jeremy Williams (Force), 7. Fraser McReight (Reds), 8. Harry Wilson (Reds), 9. Ryan Lonergan (Brumbies) – Player of the week, 10. Declan Meredith (Brumbies), 11. Lachie Anderson (Reds), 12. Hunter Paisami (Reds), 13. Josh Flook (Reds), 14. Zac Lomax (Force), 15. Max Jorgensen (Waratahs)<\/p>\n
Lomax impresses again \u2013 but there\u2019s an asterisk attached<\/p>\n
Cross-code convert Zac Lomax will be a Wallaby in July at this rate of progress. He seems almost unnaturally at ease in the 15-man game.<\/p>\n
While he potentially looked a bit narrow defensively on Brumbies winger Ollie Sapsford\u2019s try in Canberra, that was more due to the quality of the pass from Brumbies halfback Ryan Lonergan.<\/p>\n
Lomax\u2019s kick chase was outstanding again; even if he didn\u2019t grab the Force\u2019s box kicks, he did enough to cause issues for the Brumbies\u2019 back three.<\/p>\n
But almost paradoxically, his strength under the high ball is a bit of a trap. There were a few signs on Saturday that the Force were overdoing the tactic, particularly in the second half. They need to work hard to make sure they are pulling the trigger in attack rather than just falling for the default option of a kick for Lomax.<\/p>\n
It is a tricky balancing act, because Dylan Pietsch and Mac Grealy are on fire in the wider channels and need space. But as an individual making his first steps in rugby, Lomax is way ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n
Brumbies win a game of two halfbacks<\/p>\n
Mark down the 14th-minute of the Force\u2019s 32-15 loss to the Brumbies in Canberra on Saturday as the moment their play-off hopes were dashed. That\u2019s when in-form halfback Henry Robertson was injured with what looked a relatively serious knee injury.<\/p>\n
Related Article His replacement, Nathan Hastie, is an elite box-kicker and can attack with his running game, but he lacks Robertson\u2019s overall snap. By contrast, Brumbies halfback Ryan Lonergan confirmed his standout display makes him the form Australian halfback in Super Rugby.<\/p>\n The Brumbies\u2019 game isn\u2019t good enough to win the title, but Lonergan has arguably been the difference between them making the play-offs or not.<\/p>\n Wallabies captain back to his best<\/p>\n The Reds will have legitimate grievances about the officiating in their 31-21 loss to the Chiefs in Brisbane; the normally mild-mannered Les Kiss was visibly incredulous at some of the decisions. But both Kiss and Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt will be delighted by Harry Wilson\u2019s form at No 8.<\/p>\n Wilson took the Chiefs on physically, and his offload to set up Joe Brial\u2019s try was superb. Wilson\u2019s form is critically important.<\/p>\n Ireland No.8 and captain Caelan Doris missed the British and Irish Lions tour due to injury last year, but has been playing the house down for Leinster recently.<\/p>\n The Wilson-Doris clash could be the most juicy individual match-up of the Wallabies\u2019 July series.<\/p>\n Watch every match of Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> live and exclusive on Stan Sport<\/a>. <\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Joseph-Aukuso](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778388915_495_101c895a374f2e72e56640637cd8421a6a10663d.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773971537_968_07c912b903afa9bea22118b3d87a7ed92567b4b4.png\")
Paul Cully<\/a> is a rugby columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 10, 2026 \u2014 1:41pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-661187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}