Waratahs thumped again as Super Rugby finals hopes fade

If it wasn't evident already, the table-topping Hurricanes exposed the Waratahs as 2024 title pretenders with a 41-12 thrashing in Wellington on Friday night.

The Tahs' latest crushing bonus-point defeat left them with a galling two-from-10 record, and the coaching staff at the one-time Australian benchmark outfit didn't pull any punches in assessing the performance.

"We're coming second, by a long way," NSW assistant coach Chris Whitaker said of the Waratahs' meek first-half effort at Sky Stadium.

"The contact area was pretty poor, both sides of the ball.

"We're not tackling hard enough, not carrying hard enough. Speed around the field is probably not up to it either."

Stinging from a first loss of the season last week to the Brumbies, the Hurricanes came out firing.

First-half tries to five-eighth Brett Cameron, winger Joshua Moorby, centre and captain Billy Proctor and No.8 Brayden Iose earned the hosts a virtually unbeatable 26-0 lead at the break.

A try-scoring double from electric replacement Salesi Rayasi put the issue beyond doubt, despite late second-half crosses from Waratahs duo Hugh Sinclair and Vuate Karawalevu.

"We do some good stuff and we sort of let ourselves down a little bit," said Waratahs captain Jake Gordon.

"I thought some of the play late in that second half there was some really good moments, but (against) a quality team like that, we need to do it for longer."

An eighth loss of the season leaves the Waratahs languishing in second-last spot on the ladder and needing to string a succession of wins together in the closing rounds to scrape into the top eight.

They have little let-up against the Brumbies in Canberra next round.

"It's always a big game playing the Brumbies, especially at home," Gordon said.

"So we're going to have to review this and review this pretty heavily.

"But it's a sprint, this competition. We have to move on pretty quick."

Australian Associated Press