Wallaby reaggravates old injury in Waratahs’ defeat to Brumbies

Waratahs loosehead prop Angus Bell could face a lengthy stint on the sidelines after sustaining a potential season-ending toe injury in Saturday’s 40-16 defeat to the Brumbies in Canberra.

The Brumbies cruised to their 12th successive victory over the Sydneysiders with Noah Lolesio leading the way with an 18-point haul courtesy of four penalties and three conversions as they outscored the Waratahs by four tries to one.

Costly defeat

However, apart from their woeful recent record against the Brumbies, the Waratahs‘ defeat proved costly as Bell sustained damage to the ligament in his big toe – an injury which has bothered previously over the past two seasons as well.

“It doesn’t look good, it looks like the same toe injury he suffered in round one last year,” NSW coach Darren Coleman said.

“He’s pretty devastated. There wasn’t much talking, there was a bit of hugging and crying.”

Reaggravating his previous injury was a bitter pill to swallow for the 23-year-old, who was devastated as he left the field on Saturday.

“He’s pretty shattered by it all, but we’ll hold out a little bit of hope, the doctor said… the pop that he felt could have been something different,” added Coleman.

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“But at the moment it looks scarily like the same as his last injury… if it is the same injury then it’s season over.”

The Waratahs were never at the races against their rivals in Canberra as the Brumbies held a 16-6 lead at half-time before continuing their dominance in the second period.

Coleman admitted that the better team won on the day but these are worrying times for the Waratahs, who have now lost six out of seven Super Rugby Pacific matches and are languishing in 10th position in the standings.

“Their error rate was non-existent and some of their ball movement to get it into the right guy’s hands and score was exceptional,” Coleman said of their opponents.

“Hats off to them, that was by far the most clinical and best team we’ve played this year.”

Brumbies in fine form

The Brumbies’ triumph means they are in joint-first spot on the table – alongside the Blues and Hurricanes – and are currently on a five-match winning streak.

“The score blew out there a little bit, but it was a really tough game for the boys, lots of physicality from the Waratahs,” said Brumbies head coach Stephen Larkham.

“It’s just great to finish this block that way. We know we’ve got a long run now for the next block, but there’s a lot of things that haven’t gone right for us, we’ve managed to find ways to win the games through this period.

“That puts us in a really good position now to learn from our mistakes, hopefully get away from the game this week and then come back and really try and grow into the second half of the season.”

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