SYDNEY, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The attacking verve shown by the New South Wales Waratahs in their rout of the Queensland Reds at the weekend had been bubbling away under the surface all season, winger Alex Newsome said, they just had to find a way to tap into it.
The Waratahs ran in five unanswered first half-tries, three to scrumhalf Jake Gordon, as they raced to a 38-0 lead in Super Rugby AU on Saturday before sealing a 45-12 victory that got their season back on track.
"It's a funny thing," Newsome told reporters on a conference call on Monday. "Winning in sport makes life so much more easier.
"We have had that mentality to attack like that throughout the competition but it has just been a case of execution (letting us down)."
Poor execution has undermined the Waratahs all season, leaving them struggling for consistency and showing few signs of being title challengers in 2020.
They won just one of their six games in the wider Super Rugby competition before the season was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and just once in the domestic version, leaving them with the prospect of battling for the wooden spoon with the Western Force, who they play on Friday.
The thrashing of the Reds, however, could be seen as their best performance since a 20-12 win over the Canterbury Crusaders last year and Newsome said they now needed to build on it.
"I think that (win) will give us some real confidence and hopefully we can build momentum for the tail end of the competition off the back of that game," Newsome added.
"We haven't won two in a row all year so that's a big focus for us on Friday."