Rugby: Chiefs vs Waratahs a painful state of affairs

Wycliff Palu of the Waratahs is tackled during a match between the Rebels and the Waratahs. Photo / Getty Images

The underachievers. It's a label that has been hanging around the necks of the Chiefs, off and on, since their inception in 1996. It has never left the Waratahs.

Neither franchise has won a title, with the Chiefs' best being the final in 2009. The Waratahs have made two finals, away to the Crusaders in 2008 and 2005.

Despite the shared futility, the Waratahs' failings seem so much more significant.

The Chiefs have had some talented XVs but few have expected them to be a consistent powerhouse in the mould of a Crusaders, Blues or Bulls.

It's a different story for the Waratahs. They represent the blue-riband rugby state of Australia, have more players to cherry-pick from than any other franchise from that country and yet have played second fiddle to first the Brumbies and now the Reds.

It's a painful state of affairs.

Caught between the ideals of entertaining rugby that was once a hallmark of New South Wales rugby and their more pragmatically minded coaches, the Waratahs often come across as a franchise without an identity.

This season, under the tutelage of Michael Foley, they're a team with a meaningless form book.

Chuck away a win against the Reds, thrash the Rebels the next week. Run the Highlanders to the wire in Dunedin, lose to the Force the next week.

They bounced back from that embarrassment to roll over the top of the Sharks in Sydney the next week. If you're the Chiefs and are looking for pointers as to what that might mean in Hamilton tonight, you'd have more joy deciphering Kant.

Foley should have no such difficulty reading the Chiefs.

They're playing with a lot of passion and an absence of mystery. That's not to say they're unsophisticated, they just know what they've got and how they want to use them.

The Waratahs have a good record against the Chiefs and a decent record in Hamilton, but you cannot escape the feeling that the only hope the Waratahs have tonight is if they dominate the scrum and collision and allow the Chiefs the merest slivers of front-foot ball.

There will be plenty of attention paid to second five-eighths Sonny Bill Williams, both on the field and in the pubs of Sydney, where there is still an expectation he will turn up next season wearing a red, white and blue jumper in the 13-man code.

Don't be surprised, however, if he makes as many dummy runs as he does carries. Aaron Cruden is growing in stature as an option taker every week and looks primed to take advantage of the space created by Williams' presence.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that the Waratahs will steal into Hamilton and nick off with the points, but it would be surprising. An unpleasant surprise at that.