Waratahs lose a game [by one point] they would have won last year

Renowned Schoolboy Rugby Coach Geoff Mould was quoted in a Sunday Papers article today having commented about the current Waratahs team in the context of a thirty year reunion of one of the best Australian Schoolboy Rugby Union teams to have ever worn boots!! Read about it here.
They were taught and understood a brand of rugby advocated by the great Cyril Towers [embraced for decades by the Galloping Greens at Randwick] and even barked across the green of No 2 Sportsground in Newcastle by the one and only Tom Towers!!
This schoolboy team included: the Ella brothers, Hawker, Lloyd Walker, Michael O'Connor, Wally Lewis, Tony Melrose and others... I mostly recall the footage of a fogbound tour match in the UK [on their undefeated tour] where they disappeared through the fence gate and thats the last that was seen of them by the cameras covering the match!! These were the players and matches I recall as I first began to switch interest from League to Union...
Thirty years on Mould was apologetically analysing the problems with todays players and specifically the Waratahs [though it was perhaps an amalgem of the collected wisdom of those present]... even given the changes in rules and increased skill of defences!!
What I'm driving at [in an aside for those not slightly interested in rugby] is that there are clear issues with our state team which will again struggle to make a top four by relying on three wins from three in South Africa after their bye next Saturday!!

#They are not good enough at passing, catching and they kick aimlessly
#They are clearly trying to learn to 'pop' the ball to a support runner when they are grounded.... but they'll do it in patches only
#They are built around kicking but seem rushed, ill thought out and often at the wrong time
#Players like Tuqiri may be good talkers in defence or good at encouraging others but rarely make a break or earn their money
#They constantly flip from a forward controlled game to spinning the ball to isolated players and don't seem to know when to do which
#They don't run straight
#They don't naturally support the ball runner and so get caught alone

That's just the start...

As a frustrated rugby coach its annoying to watch... they have won games this year but its built around their defence, [which is great] their scrum and lineout... all three were sub par last night!! Anyhow, what would a lower grade, used to be, hack know!!
I fear that Chris Hickey won't make it through next season as coach... he gets this year because he didn't get to choose all the players...
I'll watch the replay closely on Wednesday on Foxtel to see if I can figure out what the game plan was, apart from decoy runners with Daniel Halangahu trying to get width behind the gain line but I suspect they lost shape all over the park... they were beaten at the breakdown too much in the second half and their handling was awful. Dean Mumm will rue a dropped ball from Palu but it wasn't a good pass and don't get me started on Cliff Palu! Lazy...