SUPER RUGBY – WEEK 3: WESTERN FORCE V BRUMBIES

[Rex Messup]

The Crusaders have lost the first two and do this consistently. You don't win the comp in March

They started like they had been absolutely flogged in training this week after the shite they dished up in round 1

There is a lot goes on behind the scenes. The legs were heavy. They had been caned this week.

They were a lot fitter than the ponies. They were the better team in the second half.

Lets not give up yet.

We need some impact in midfield. We just have nothing.

Not a huge fan of Zac Holmes either. Sias for mine.

[Rex Messup]

I still maintain had they kicked the 5 kickable penalties it would have been 29-27 to the Force. They should have been patient and kicked all the points they were given.

This is a good point however many of those penalties were back to back because they elected to keep the pressure on and stay in the zone. If you kick 3, the territory changes and many teams sometime hand back another 3 immediately or even concede a try. I think they should just tap and go like KB did against the Reds. How often do you see a team kick for the corner and lose the ball in the lineout or get held up when trying to maul and give the ball back. If you have a world class lineout I guess it can be very effective. The Force did this time and time again against the Tahs and wasted a lot of time and handed over the pill from poor execution. Tap and go and don't give the opposition a chance to restructure the defence.

[travelling_gerry]

Alby tried the tap and go once and was called back by the Ref!

[Albert]

Alby tried the tap and go once and was called back by the Ref!

Yeah but it was the only time in the game he looked like he was doing anything other than playing for the money!

[oxleymoron]

McCalman's try was from Hodgo tap and go.

Scored two tries against the lions, hodgo v brumbies last year with tap and go as well if i remember correctly.

[WFDom]

I'm taking no comfort from our much improved 2nd half performance last night. By that time the contest was over. The Brumbies played much more conservatively after half time.

Everyone who came on played well.

What's really alarming is how we've lost both games in the first 15-20 minutes

[zed]

The Crusaders have lost the first two and do this consistently. You don't win the comp in March

They started like they had been absolutely flogged in training this week after the shite they dished up in round 1

There is a lot goes on behind the scenes. The legs were heavy. They had been caned this week.

They were a lot fitter than the ponies. They were the better team in the second half.

Lets not give up yet.

We need some impact in midfield. We just have nothing.

Not a huge fan of Zac Holmes either. Sias for mine.

I admire your optimism, but realistically we are going to be getting regularly pumped until we get some quality players. No disrespect to the current WF squad, there are some good, solid players there, but there's no-one really that's a stand out, that looks like they should be playing at international level. To be competitive, we need at least 7 additional players that are either playing international rugby or are good enough to play international rugby. 7 players, not 1 or 2. It does not matter how good our coaching team are, they are not going to be able to get this team finishing any higher than 10th or 11th. We need players, simple as that.

[Alison]

It was good to see Pocock coming up to Force fans for pics and autographs after the game.

He was fantastic with MMM when he got his neck injury too. Refused to move out from under MMM until the docs came on and fitted the neck brace. The other Brumb player tangled up with them was not as nice and just got up and walked off it seemed.

[andyg]

Well they can stop calling it the Force field after that load of cobblers. The Farce Field would be more like it!

Try the House of Pain, just for all of us that turn up game after game.

[Alison]

On a positive note, we did manage to put 21 points past the Tahs whereas the Reds could only manage 5!! Yep, that's all I've got :-/

In reply to Zed - I totally agree we need some better players, but we will never get them. Not enough success to attract them; not enough money to attract them; too isolated to attract them; no tangible support (financial or otherwise) from the ARU to attract them......

With all the financial strife rugby union is in here in Australia, does anyone else feel nervous about how much longer we will continue to have a S15 franchise in Perth, despite Pulver's assurances to the contrary?

[andrewg]

I admire your optimism, but realistically we are going to be getting regularly pumped until we get some quality players. No disrespect to the current WF squad, there are some good, solid players there, but there's no-one really that's a stand out, that looks like they should be playing at international level. To be competitive, we need at least 7 additional players that are either playing international rugby or are good enough to play international rugby. 7 players, not 1 or 2. It does not matter how good our coaching team are, they are not going to be able to get this team finishing any higher than 10th or 11th. We need players, simple as that.

Nobody should be under the misapprehension that the Western Force is playing on an even playing field.

It's a bloody tough gig to be running a Rugby franchise in WA when the main game in town is Aussie Football (as shown by the recent change from Arena Joondalup due to concerns about rugby scruffing up the surface for the precious petals).

With Wallaby top-ups etc the Waratahs have a player remuneration basket about $2million more than the Western Force.

Despite the hype from the start the Western Force under the old CEO (wish Hong Kong good luck!!) and John Mitchell, and then Richard Graham was poorly managed. All the complaints about lack of contact with local clubs attest to this.

Under the new CEO/Coach and Captain it is a rebuilding time - as hard as this pill to swallow. So much has improved but it's still early days.

Michael Foley was given few chances to make many changes before 2014. He has recruited some new talent for 2015 with the franchise trying to get more local players back home. Anybody who thinks that there should be more is fooling themselves. Perth club rugby is at least 2 levels below Super XV rugby. Next year he will recruit more. Foley should at least be given the full 3 years due to his efforts to date.

Remember that last year the ARU removed the local development $$s as well.

BUT....none of the above excuses the total lack of effort in the first 20 minutes against the Tahs AND the Brumbies.

Too many of the run-on XV were no shows against the Tahs. Too many of them were no shows again in the first half against the Brumbies. I expect MANY changes for the game against the Rebels.

Alby certainly lost interest last night after the Brumbies first 2 tries...but he wasn't alone.

Dellit and Rasolea need to be given a rest to find some energy as it's been missing for 2 games. Both making too many mistakes.
But we have no obvious choice for Outside Centre.

Faulkner needs to do more than scrummage....would rather see Pek be given the first 50-60 minutes.

Would like to see Hayward at Full Back (he's performed well for Force A) and Morahan on the Right Wing.

There's no doubt that Sias is improving and so good to see him take the ball at speed.

I hope Brynard Stander is fit for #6 next week as we need his impact.

AND please stop bleeding tries out wide!!! Cummo had to face 5-man overlaps against the Tahs and it was only a slight improvement for the 1st half against the Brumbies.

The Force are 0 from 2 just like the Crusaders and the Hurricanes. It's not yet time to panic.

As constantly talked about by Hodgson......would like to see 80 minute effort from the whole team....with more urgency and passion/mongrel.

[Albert]

Nobody should be under the misapprehension that the Western Force is playing on an even playing field.

It's a bloody tough gig to be running a Rugby franchise in WA when the main game in town is Aussie Football (as shown by the recent change from Arena Joondalup due to concerns about rugby scruffing up the surface for the precious petals).

With Wallaby top-ups etc the Waratahs have a player remuneration basket about $2million more than the Western Force.

Despite the hype from the start the Western Force under the old CEO (wish Hong Kong good luck!!) and John Mitchell, and then Richard Graham was poorly managed. All the complaints about lack of contact with local clubs attest to this.

Under the new CEO/Coach and Captain it is a rebuilding time - as hard as this pill to swallow. So much has improved but it's still early days.

Michael Foley was given few chances to make many changes before 2014. He has recruited some new talent for 2015 with the franchise trying to get more local players back home. Anybody who thinks that there should be more is fooling themselves. Perth club rugby is at least 2 levels below Super XV rugby. Next year he will recruit more. Foley should at least be given the full 3 years due to his efforts to date.

Remember that last year the ARU removed the local development $$s as well.

BUT....none of the above excuses the total lack of effort in the first 20 minutes against the Tahs AND the Brumbies.

Too many of the run-on XV were no shows against the Tahs. Too many of them were no shows again in the first half against the Brumbies. I expect MANY changes for the game against the Rebels.

Alby certainly lost interest last night after the Brumbies first 2 tries...but he wasn't alone.

Dellit and Rasolea need to be given a rest to find some energy as it's been missing for 2 games. Both making too many mistakes.
But we have no obvious choice for Outside Centre.

Faulkner needs to do more than scrummage....would rather see Pek be given the first 50-60 minutes.

Would like to see Hayward at Full Back (he's performed well for Force A) and Morahan on the Right Wing.

There's no doubt that Sias is improving and so good to see him take the ball at speed.

I hope Brynard Stander is fit for #6 next week as we need his impact.

AND please stop bleeding tries out wide!!! Cummo had to face 5-man overlaps against the Tahs and it was only a slight improvement for the 1st half against the Brumbies.

The Force are 0 from 2 just like the Crusaders and the Hurricanes. It's not yet time to panic.

As constantly talked about by Hodgson......would like to see 80 minute effort from the whole team....with more urgency and passion/mongrel.

Serious fairy tale stuff here!

Don't you think the eastern state teams also face stiff opposition from AFL and league? It's being delusional to blame the ARU the ref the NSW conspiracy and anything else except reality.

This years player recruitment consisted of players that couldn't make it at their own club much the same as the coach who couldn't make it elsewhere. Instead of buying ten second rate players why didn't we buy a nucleas of first class players to build a team around? Even young fringe players are being told their better off playing in eastern states club comps than hanging around hoping for a miracle or an injury to a starting player while playing in what they rate as poor quality Perth club rugby which no one else is ever going to see apart from those at the game. To survive, it needs a massive and total reassessment of where the Force is going, to keep repeating the same poor decisions is not just a recipe for disaster but plain stupid.

[SNOB]

Good post Andrewg.
We can but hope! I really don't care if we lose if they show guts and leave nothing in the tank at the end of the match.
Let's see what happens next week.

[SNOB]

Serious fairy tale stuff here!

Don't you think the eastern state teams also face stiff opposition from AFL and league? It's being delusional to blame the ARU the ref the NSW conspiracy and anything else except reality.

This years player recruitment consisted of players that couldn't make it at their own club much the same as the coach who couldn't make it elsewhere. Instead of buying ten second rate players why didn't we buy a nucleas of first class players to build a team around? Even young fringe players are being told their better off playing in eastern states club comps than hanging around hoping for a miracle or an injury to a starting player while playing in what they rate as poor quality Perth club rugby which no one else is ever going to see apart from those at the game. To survive, it needs a massive and total reassessment of where the Force is going, to keep repeating the same poor decisions is not just a recipe for disaster but plain stupid.

Think we tried that and that didn't work! Just look at all the names we've had and not done anything special.

[Tazzmania]

Summed up perfectly by both Andrewg and Snob

I have mentioned it previously to Mark Sinderberry and last night reiterated it to the marketing manager.

The essence of rugby is making spaces to break through to score a try, we have the type of players who try their best, however at this level you need players with a bit of X factor that can open that space just that better than the type of players we have.

With the current roster and a continuation along these lines we will forever struggle at this level, and in view of the odds stacked against us attracting these type of players if the status quo remains, we need to just get behind our boys and support them as they are not taking to the field to lose but are fighting an up hill battle.

I will be there for every home match irrespective, I love rugby and want it in Perth and if we continue to struggle so be it, I will continue to wait after the match to thank our boys irrespective of the results.

While I would like to see things change after eight years I realise they will not, and survival of rugby matches in Perth due to the support of the sea of blue is vital and I will continue to be part of it