Highlanders v Western Force Friday April Fools Day

[BeeJay]

If we had scored from that line break and got to 3 tries ahead, we might have kept them out. Or at least they might have panicked.

But that, some loose defending over turnover ball, a lack of intensity in the kick-chase to support the chaser, and the lost line outs, cost us the game.

A good effort against a clearly far more talented team...

[Moono74]

Go have a read of the "ARU set to take over the Western Force" thread. The article from Wayne Smith at the Australian supports what we have known for a long time.....we are pushing shit uphill with the brakes on!

Better effort from the boys in Dunedin. Liked the first up game from Richard Hardwick....promise. Keep him in the match day squad.

Get on G&GR and voice your opinion on the Force!

[Buddha Handy]

The non yellow card was a big moment. I think a lot of refs would give yellow for that and with smith gone could have been different. Morahan is playing so much better than last year.

As mentioned depth is the key. If we had lance and Godwin starting with Alcock, grant and rasolea on the bench would be a lot stronger.

[DazloT]

Good game to watch, despite the loss.

Great game by the ref, flowed well and let both teams play. Once again the Kiwis show their rugby depth, even in the refs. While I would have liked a Y/C from a force POV, to see refs applying common sense in that situation was refreshing.

My biggest concern from the game was the kicking. Not the technique but the timing and decision making. After their first two tries they seemed to think the only way they could go forward was kicking behind. Or the only way out of the half was a kick return. The highlanders made them pay for that.

Ball in hand they made progress forward, even if it was slow. They weren't getting turned over at rucks so why not keep going. We have showed we can make breaks, now we have to be patient and create the opportunities to break.

Lastly they, every player, needs to work on game awareness, quite a few times they missed a simple opening to run through by only looking at where there were going to pass to the next in line.

Otherwise it was back to the team showing the usual guts and pride for the full 80.

[travelling_gerry]

I do feel qualified to comment as I have played the game at a level that most would dream about
Have also coached and at a level that would put me right up there with t
Fearn so get on board with sevenmile and enjoy the ride

All Black trialist?

[whodunnit]

Tommy Fearn.

I thought the game was an improvement, and it's causing me to dig myself out of the hole last week put main, but there were some obvious flaws which need fixing.
You simply can't shut a game down after 15 minutes, Wanneroo under 12s will beat the Force in that situation.
The reserves aren't up to the task, I think that's the difference at the 60, and I know now why Foley is reluctant to make changes.
New Zealand commentators are a better judge of DHP than two dickheads from a Perth rugby site, he had a good game overall, but went into his shell a little too much once we built a meager lead....it's not that territory is a bad call once you have a lead, but you need to be effective at it, and get the ball off the field in the right places.
Grant, well it's coming together, but not as quickly as it did for Jono....the game time is helping him and he's distributing with an attacking mindset, I'm not so concerned as I was last week
Scrums are a bit of a lottery, but overall, great until they were disrupted by losing starting cattle. Ross was missed in the set piece, Mafi is earning splinters in his arse.
Morahan has been eating something he wasn't last year.....feed it to the rest of the backs
Masirewa, good player strong like elephant, smart like tree.
Centres looked much better hitting the ball at pace and running straight, shame that lasted about 20 minutes.

Understand now why Rockingham folded!

[choice]

Off course it was a yellow card, for the ref to not give one was wrong. Part of his reasoning being the player used his arm/hand to break his fall. Ask Bernie Larkham about that technique. It makes the tackle even more dangerous.
Some of you guys posting should wait until the effects of the alcohol you have consumed has worn off.
I enjoyed the game, apart from Mafi I don't think the bench is giving us much and I look forward to the injured players coming back.

[sevenmile]

All Black trialist?

Like every mercenary imported into Perth by prem clubs are All Black trialists. I can't reveal status otherwise sevenmile's anonymity will be revealed. I can assure you I am very qualified to comment. Thanks for your question.

Go the mighty Arks!

[GIGS20]

Nice gigs now your getting into the swing of things
No wonder rocky suffered so long with you at the club coaching
They showed glimpses of a rugby team

nice, you obviously aren't smart enought to actually analyse, well pretty much anything, so I'll correct some things for you.

I haven't been at Rocky for about ten years since my boy stopped playing for them....and I was never at the top level, thanks for the compliment, but you don't know what you're talking about.
Second, the analysis of a football game such as this needs to be couched in a couple of things, but none of them is the score. We were never a serious chance of beating the competition champions on their home turf with the cattle we have, only a freaking idiot would think that.
We bounced back from a lazy and inaccurate performance to field some good effort and actually showed some guts for 80 minutes. Once the team get solid with the game plan I expect well do pretty well against the majority of the mid table teams, but we need cattle to get higher than that.
We lost the plot when the team structure was messed with, which means our squad isn't deep enough.
For the record, I am currently supportive of the coaching staff staying to the end of the year, because the glimpses have been good enough and ther will be nobody available.
If you spent some time looking at the team, and attempted to find the actual problems, rather than spending every second trying to call for Foley's sacking you might actually say something worth listening to.
Frankly, I'm done with you, you one-dimensional dick!

[GIGS20]

apart from Mafi I don't think the bench is giving us much and I look forward to the injured players coming back.

isn't that funny, apart from one run through the middle of the ruck, I thought Mafi was a passenger. Can you expand on why you thought he was good (it's pretty hard for me to expand much on "I saw him do virtually nothing of value")

[Macattack]

I thought the ref was best on ground, didn't impose himself unnecessarily and the game flowed nicely. I was pleased with our effort this week but disappointed with the number of missed tackles. Junior's lazy effort to allow that last try was bloody poor - watch it in replay and you'll see what I mean.

Very good to see Adam coming on so well, including with ball in hand, RHP also building nicely and his brother continues to impress. Line outs still a bit of a worry.

Hopefully last night might set us up to beat the Saders at home next Friday.

[whodunnit]

pek Cowan was outstanding. Nathan Charles, correct me if I am wrong had 0 from 4 on his throwing! The time these happened was crucial. Fitness is a major issue, which asks the question of why do we kick it so much when we cannot form an effective chase line. RHP was at fault on highlanders 2nd try coz he was on his own or maybe the others couldn't keep up.
DHP kicks far too much, eventually one of them is going to come off but in the meantime the opposition have scored three tries.

[sevenmile]

[QUOTE=GIGS20;409715]nice, you obviously aren't smart enought to actually analyse, well pretty much anything, so I'll correct some things for you.

I haven't been at Rocky for about ten years since my boy stopped playing for them....

were you part of the future development team

[whodunnit]

nice, you obviously aren't smart enought to actually analyse, well pretty much anything, so I'll correct some things for you.

I haven't been at Rocky for about ten years since my boy stopped playing for them....and I was never at the top level, thanks for the compliment, but you don't know what you're talking about.
Second, the analysis of a football game such as this needs to be couched in a couple of things, but none of them is the score. We were never a serious chance of beating the competition champions on their home turf with the cattle we have, only a freaking idiot would think that.
We bounced back from a lazy and inaccurate performance to field some good effort and actually showed some guts for 80 minutes. Once the team get solid with the game plan I expect well do pretty well against the majority of the mid table teams, but we need cattle to get higher than that.
We lost the plot when the team structure was messed with, which means our squad isn't deep enough.
For the record, I am currently supportive of the coaching staff staying to the end of the year, because the glimpses have been good enough and ther will be nobody available.
If you spent some time looking at the team, and attempted to find the actual problems, rather than spending every second trying to call for Foley's sacking you might actually say something worth listening to.
Frankly, I'm done with you, you one-dimensional dick!

It was about 10 years ago rocky fell apart. Make a mess and leave. Just like this coaching staff will do!

[andrewg]

Our world used to be such a civilised place .....