Old habits die hard as Waratahs suffer another loss

Coach Michael Cheika believes the side's finals chances are still alive but was frustrated by what he called a poor performance execution-wise.
''We're making a lot of good play and then we're just making mistakes, like we're getting stripped [or] they chip the ball over and we're not in a position to stop that,'' he said.
''One time maybe but not two or three. We're not taking our opportunities when they come. You add up all those things and you end up, in a game you really should have won, losing.''
Still, there is every reason to believe the Waratahs might be well on their way to chasing away the ghosts of seasons past after their most complete performance yet this season.
It was the first time in four games they ran into the sheds in front, let alone with two tries under their belts.

They led 23-20 and dominated territory until well into the second half before Cheetahs wingers Willie le Roux and Raymond Rhule combined to snatch victory with a try in the 70th minute.
The Waratahs fought back to 27-26 but couldn't pull off the miracle finish. But this one will go down, in Cheika-speak, as the right sort of performance, even if it was let go by unforced errors.
That aspect must be cleaned up. Their performance, while committed, still gave no indication of whether the Waratahs could withstand a second Brumbies-like vice grip of a game.
''We are obviously going to be heavily criticised and most importantly we put ourselves in a difficult position on the table,'' Cheika said.
''We're a team who are carrying a lot of anxiety as it is from past seasons, so we're going to get a lot more of that now. We have to have the resolve to understand that we're going to be in a massive war with ourselves predominantly and we have to have the courage and the application to make the sacrifice to get out of it. Because no one's going to think we can.''
But in many ways it was the first time the rugby matched the rhetoric. There was shape and there was intent, even if most of the gains were let  slip quickly.   A more clinical opposition will make a meal of the Waratahs errors.
But something did click. The Cheetahs, buoyant from victory over the Highlanders in round four, had a contest on their hands after tries to winger Peter Betham and centre Adam Ashley-Cooper in the first half.

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