Moana Pasifika shock Waratahs for first win of the season

Moana Pasifika have secured their first and only win of the Super Rugby Pacific season by beating the Waratahs 33-24 in Sydney last night.

In front of almost 20,000 supporters at Allianz Stadium who turned up to farewell Waratahs and Wallabies great Michael Hooper, the visitors pulled off one of the shocks of the season in a five-tries-to-four upset.

Playing his last-ever home game for the Waratahs, Hooper instead featured in one of NSW's most humiliating defeats.

Coach Darren Coleman said he was "embarrassed" by the performance.

"It was bad on all fronts," Coleman said.

"You've got that yucky feeling in the bottom of your stomach that you didn't perform there how you wanted. It was bad for Hoops to finish like that. It was bad for momentum into play-offs that we played so badly.

"It's hurting now. (I am) embarrassed now off the back of that.

"We had such a good opportunity with such a good crowd and what would have been a good event to finish on a high. You see those juniors march in and you really want to win them over on the sport by having a team they look up to and we dish up that s***."

Already certain to finish sixth and playing the Blues in next week's quarter-finals, the match was a dead rubber.

But the lacklustre loss was still hardly the confidence-boosting performance the Waratahs would have been looking for ahead of a treacherous sudden-death trip to Auckland.

Apart from no Australian team having ever won a finals match across the Tasman, NSW's record against the Blues in New Zealand makes for grim reading.

The Tahs have won only once at Eden Park in 15 Super Rugby meetings since 1998, they leak an average of 35 points against the Blues in New Zealand and are riding an eight-match losing streak against the Auckland outfit stretching back to 2015.

Michael Hooper attempts to evade Levi Aumua during the Waratahs' defeat. (Source: Getty)

Worst of all, the Waratahs endured their heaviest ever defeat to the Blues, 55-21, only last month at Eden Park, albeit with a several Wallabies being rested from that match.

Now Coleman's side have only a six-day turnaround before trying to pull off somewhat of a rugby miracle on Friday night.

"We're probably in a similar position to where I was when I took on the job. No one gave us too much of a chance," Coleman said.

"There was a lot of negative chat. I'll figure out how I try and get us up. I'm hurting now. I'll be ready to go by 6am tomorrow."

Few players did their Wallabies prospects any good in the stinker, not least Ben Donaldson, one of the slew of hopefuls vying for the hotly-contested five-eighth role.

In one horror three-minute spell, Donaldson failed to find touch from a penalty, kicked out on the full and was penalised for not rolling away from a ruck in the lead-up to Moana's third try.

That try allowed Moana to race to a 21-7 lead half an hour.

Ned Hanigan's reply in the shadows of halftime, after Mark Nawaqanitawase's long-range opening try in the fourth minute, looked to have revived the Waratahs' fortunes.

But the Pacific Islanders' fourth try, to former Brumbies and Wallabies playmaker Christian Leali'ifano, on the hour mark, followed by a second for flanker Miracle Faiilagi sealed the Waratahs' fate.

Hooper's sole consolation was a try after the fulltime siren, his 27th for the Waratahs - and last at Allianz - in his 141st game for the club.