Cams Column - pre Hurricanes game
Cameron Shepherd says Force have nothing to lose
Western Force fullback Cameron Shepherd
May 06, 2008 02:00pm
THINGS won't get any easier for us on Friday against the Hurricanes, writes Westernn Force fullback Cameron Shepherd.
The Chiefs game was pretty brutal, especially at the breakdown. But the 'Canes are known for their physicality and move the ball wide quickly.
Wellington is also a tough place to play footy, it's usually cold and windy, but they are the ones that have got to be worried.
They need a win to cement their place in the top four. But we've got nothing to lose and if we can play the attractive football that we did against the Chiefs, we can get over them and ruin their day.
The great thing about the Chiefs game, apart from the result, was our style of play and never-say die attitude.
We played the way we wanted and the way we knew we could, with width and crisp passing.
Sometimes I think we have been frightened to try some of those things, but we didn't hide in our shells and we didn't have a fear of losing.
Even when the Chiefs scored the drop goal with a few minutes to go and we were under the pump, there was a feeling that we could still win the game.
The Chiefs screwed up a couple of tries, but we missed a couple of scoring chances as well - and I nearly blew it when I was ruled to have knocked on.
I've seen the vision and can understand why it was ruled, but it would have been nice to scored in my 50th game.
I was really impressed with Matty Hodgson, he came out and had a stormer - not only because he scored the first try, but it was the little things he did at the breakdown and around the ground that were impressive.
I've never see anyone as nervous in my life as Kieran Longbottom was before the game, but he was another guy who impressed me - especially being thrown in the deep end like he was.
