Force boss pleased with attitude
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The skill and execution may not have been tip top but Western Force coach John Mitchell was as pleased as punch with his charges' attitude following the Force's thrilling 15-14 win over the Bulls at Subiaco Oval on Friday night.
The Bulls led 14-3 at half-time, but a Matt Giteau try in the 42nd minute and a five-pointer to winger Ryan Cross with just 95 seconds left on the clock lifted the Force to their fifth win of the season and their first triumph at home in 2008.
Mitchell was scathing following last week's dismal 32-16 loss to the Stormers but, despite another somewhat scrappy contest, the coach said he was pleased with the response shown against the Bulls.
"We won ugly tonight but in saying that we started off with the right tempo in the game," he said.
"Things didn't fall our way. We gave them some free ball which allowed them to lead. But the attitude was terrific."
"We just needed to mount pressure and we did it together tonight, whereas last week we were disjointed dealing with the arm-wrestle."
Despite the Force trailing for the majority of the match, skipper Nathan Sharpe was confident his team would prevail.
"Both of their (the Bulls') tries were pretty opportunistic. Apart from the bounce of the ball they didn't really look like scoring against us," he said.
"We knew how to grind that one out in the second half and I think with 30 minutes to go, we had them on the ropes, it was just a matter of finishing them off."
"We played ugly but the pleasing thing was there was no panic. We still made mistakes but the guys dealt with it. The attitude was right tonight."
Sharpe admitted last week's loss to the Stormers had burned deep in the players' minds.
"The guys were nervous before the game tonight . . . last week we were very disappointing so the guys were keen to get back on track," he said.
"We had a young team and I think they probably started reading the press during the week talking about the (home ground) hoodoo and all the rest of it."
"But at the end of the day, it's about performing well and we performed well with attitude tonight - maybe not so much (in terms of) skill and execution - but if the attitude's right that's 99 per cent of the battle."
"We're a team that plays for 80 minutes and we certainly showed that tonight."
The Bulls' fourth loss on the trot leaves the defending champions with just 10 points to their name after eight rounds.
Although the Bulls play four of their final five matches at home, coach Frans Ludeke conceded his team's chances of earning a semi-finals berth were over.