Shute Shield rugby union: Wildfires cop reality check in loss to Warringah

The Wildfires were out-enthused, out-smarted and out-played 42-21 by a rampant Warringah at Pittwater Park on Saturday.

The defeat ended a four-game winning streak for the Wildfires.

"I think we got carried away with the four wins we had," Coleman said. "Even our attitude at training. Our standards dropped a little bit. We got a little bit complacent.

"It was definitely a reality check. It showed we are not as good as we thought we were."

The Wildfires were without damaging No.8 Lona Halaholo, who was laid up with the flu, but Coleman refused to use his absence as an excuse.

"We weren't good at all to be honest," Coleman said. "We wanted to play scrums and lineouts. They matched us if not bettered us in those areas. They totally out enthused us."

The Wildfires were 14-0 down before they had touched the ball.

Warringah fly-half Connor Hickey sliced through on the counter attack from a kick and found halfback Rhett Butler on his inside to cross near the sticks.

Hickey then held up a beautiful short ball for right winger Esera Chee-Kam from a five-metre scrum.

The Wildfires were off the pace. The scoreboard wasn't the only area for concern. The Rats scrum anchored by former NSW Waratah prop Rory O'Connor had the Wildfires under pressure.

"I don't why we were started so poorly," Coleman said. "It was actually one of our better warm-ups. The boys were switched on and enthusiastic."

The points kept flowing for Warringah. No.8 Max Girdler powered over from a driving maul after a penalty against the Wildfires.

Hickey was in everything. He started and finished the Rats' fourth try, selling a dummy near half way, then backing up on the inside to make it 28-0 after 28 minutes.

The Wildfires' strength has been a driving maul from a lineout and again they profited when Phil Bradford crashed over in the 31^st minute. The in-form hooker added a second - his ninth try of the campaign - when he pick and drove to give the visitors some hope at 28-14 at half-time.

But that vanished three minutes after the break when Hickey stepped through some poor defence.

"Their 10 is a good footballer," Coleman said. "He is light on his feet and throws a nice pass."

Wildfires fly-half Connor Winchester got through 60 minutes in his return from a shoulder issue.

Halaholo is expected to be right for the visit by Southern Districts next Saturday.

Meanwhile AAP reports, the NSW Waratahs will give game-breaking centre Izaia Perese every chance to prove his fitness as the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season moves into knockout mode.

Waratahs coach Darren Coleman declared the title up for grabs, with all eight quarter-finalists needing to win three straight sudden-death encounters to snare the trophy.

Even Blues coach Leon McDonald is feeling nervous despite his table-toppers notching a record 13th consecutive win with a last-gasp 20-17 victory over the Waratahs.

The Blues will play the Highlanders, who were beaten by the Rebels 31-30 on Sunday, but grabbed a bonus point to leapfrog the Western Force into the finals.

The Force did all they could to clinch the eighth spot with a upset win over the finals-bound Hurricanes on Saturday in Perth.

But they were relying on the Rebels to beat the Highlanders while stopping the visitors collecting a losing bonus point for finishing within seven points.

The fourth-placed Brumbies host the fifth-placed Hurricanes on Saturday.

The Brumbies' defeat scuppered a predicted showdown with the Waratahs.

The sixth-placed Waratahs will instead travel to Hamilton to face the third-placed Chiefs on Saturday.

The seventh-placed Reds play the second-placed Crusaders on Friday night in Christchurch.

"I can't lie. We had our sights and the probability was all leading us to Canberra," said Waratahs coach Darren Coleman.

Coleman is approaching the finals as a completely new competition and maintains his side can snatch the title a year after enduring a winless campaign.

"We love being underdogs," he said. "Our whole season, we were 101 (dollar outsiders) at the start of the year so we're going there to be underdogs against a good football team. We're going there to play the Chiefs and will do our best. We've got to go over there and get three wins. Start with the first one first."

Perese's season looked over when he suffered a medial ligament injury against the Hurricanes two weeks ago.

But Coleman said the Tahs' most destructive back could be a surprise starter against the Chiefs.

"We're going to give him a crack," the coach said. "As in, we don't know if he'll play but we'll push him through this week. It's sudden death, we've got no reason to save him.

"But he's got to be able to function. It will be a race against the clock but we'll give him as long as we can."

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