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Sunday, 25 April 2010 1:09pm
By Chris Pike
Emirates Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe on the charge against the Bulls
Emirates Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe on the charge against the Bulls
The sold out ME Bank Stadium crowd spurred on the Emirates Western Force to beat the Crusaders on Friday night and captain Nathan Sharpe was happy with how his team bounced back.
The Force has now won three of their last four games with impressive victories over the Stormers, Highlanders and Crusaders, and Sharpe is in no doubt that the sold out home crowd at ME Bank Stadium of 19,279 spurred on the team on Friday night.
The Force beat the Crusaders for the first ever time 24-16 after an incredible second half performance with three tries to nil and Sharpe could hear the crowd roaring all night and it lifted the whole side in the final match at ME Bank Stadium for the season.
"Our crowd's been great all year and they get right in behind us. The success of ME Bank Stadium has been terrific for the players because the fans are right there with us. It's a cauldron especially when the boys are playing well when they get behind us," Sharpe said.
"That's something you like to reflect on after a game, but also during it it's important because when you get in the 22 you can hear them. A couple of times I had my head buried in a ruck and I'd hear a big cheer and knew someone had made a big line break. That interaction is great for the players to hear."
Sharpe and his Force teammates returned from Auckland disappointed about the loss to the Blues that broke the two-game winning run and he felt the side rebounded perfectly both during the week and on game day.
"We looked at the performance we put up last week against the Auckland Blues where they played well, but we played poorly," Sharpe said.
"We knew that this was going to be a tough game, but the preparation that we did this week showed that we respected them as a team and the way we played showed that we wanted to win. It was a good combination of preparation and performance."
Sharpe has no doubt the performance was the best team effort by the Force all season and to do that against the team that has been the best in the history of Super Rugby and was still top of the table coming into the game was tremendously impressive.
"It was much more of a team-orientated performance and everyone contributed right across the park. The other thing that was really good was that early in the game we had a couple of opportunities to put pressure on them and didn’t come away with the results," he said.
"The score could have been completely different but we went into half-time at 13-0, and then continued to go at them and that's the pleasing thing for us. It's important for the young guys to experience beating teams that are always strong because it gives them confidence going forward.
"When you play the Crusaders it's always a physical game, but in that first half we felt we were going through them close to the rucks and a little wider as well. We knew our game plan was working well, we just needed to perhaps adapt a little better and fix up some sloppy set pieces in the 22.
'In the second half, we scored from a lineout drive and then from a forward coming around the corner from good pressure. That came from being physical with them."
The Force now finish the season with a three-week tour to South Africa starting with the Lions this Saturday night in Johannesburg before clashes with the Cheetahs and Sharks. Sharpe is looking forward to seeing the team finish the season strongly.
"We go to Africa with high hopes to win all three games and to play better each week. We played well this week and we'd like to play better next week," he said.
"South African teams play a different style of rugby so we have to adapt to that and we'll do that in our preparation this week and also one of the big things is coming to neutral ground. Sometimes after a win you can have a poor performance the next week, and we just want to be consistent and we can use this game as a blue print going forward."
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Originally Posted by RugbyWA
