Force Draw - AGAIN!

[Darren]

Another seemingly unassailable lead, another draw!

An unconverted post siren try by the Cat's Wylie Human snatched the illusive win from the Western Force. Both teams walk a away with 2 points and a 4 try bonus point, leaving the Force still lurking at the bottom of the ladder only 2 points behind.

We didn't lose, Staniforth walked away with a hat trick of tries and however disappointing, the Western Force did play a good game and walked away with a result most teams would be happy with playing in South Africa. Keep the Faith people!

To quote the South African radio presenters - "a draw in Rugby is a bit like kissing your sister". I think he may be right (but I'm not going to find out)

Final Score 34-34

Scorers -
Force
Tries: Staniforth 3, Ioane 1
Conversions: ,Shepherd 4
Penalties: Shepherd 2

Cats
Tries: Tromp, Du Preez, Fourie, Stoltz, Human
Conversions: Pretorius 3
Penalties: Pretorius

[Lonzy]

OMFG!!! another draw !!! I cant believe it!!!! and I didnt get to the TAB!!!! damn!!!! I didnt get to watch the game ... but i will watch the replay

[travelling_gerry]

still......its another improvement.......4 try bonus point......never done that before....and it really looked like the energy was sapped out of us late in the second half....

[.X.]

it was a very loooong game to - seemed to be a lot of breaks of play.

I would love to see the stats but Shepherd seems to always miss his first kick at goal.

[Burgs]

TEF made that call during the game too Exile.
We thought that in future, even if right back in our own 22, that the first Penalty awarded to the Force should be a shot for goal just to get the "first kick" out of the way!

[travelling_gerry]

and take out the first score penalty goal bet as well......

[Vasco]

"....the Western Force did play a good game and walked away with a result most teams would be happy with playing in South Africa.."

Let's not kid ourselves, Coach! The Force played well in the first half, but were attrocious in the second, losing from a position that should have sealed a win, with reasonable team play. Judging by the media reports John Mitchell thinks so too! The draw against the Crusaders was one to be congratulated, not considering the opposition, but also the quality of our game. Not so in the draw against the Cats!

Also, I don't think any team would have been satisfied with anything but a resounding win over the Cats, who have been in crisis mode for most of the season.

[Darren]

Yeah, fair cop Vasco. I'll never be a sports reporter, just a one eyed Force supporter with a big pair of rose coloured glasses firmly in place ....

Your post is what I like about a forum - people get to respond with things like "Let's not kid ourselves, Coach!" If only we could also respond to some of the tripe that's been showing up on other sites recently re: giteau. I'll try and be a bit more grounded next time. Even better, any journo wannabe Force supporters out there who want to knock up a *quick* headline for the next couple matches?

[MysticBalls]

Don't understand the tripe stuff Coach, but yes its hard to do a matchwrite-up when your shattered by the match result. For the Blues result I did as Burgs had done for a game and posted an edited version of a match report from either RugbyHeaven or Super14.com. That way people can respond to the report and game. From the TWF viewers index page (Western Force), its important to keep a continuous chronological sequence to pre-game,game,aftermath threads. Us OCD postees can forget that sometimes, especially with bad match results.

Personally,I couldn't believe the result, as I only woke at 4am(EST) to catch second half live, promptly fell asleep again but thankfully had tape going. So with great joy and anticipation, I rewound tape for last 10 mins as I rushed out door for a 9am workshop. SHATTERED !

[The Duke]

I was at the game. Very disappointing in the last 20 minutes particularly as they made such a dramatic start.

It appeared to me that the Force suffered from 2key problems:
1. Losing composure at the end. They seemed to cop the jitters as they were overcome by the prospect of finally winning
2. The altitude seemed to get them.

Shepherd's missed tackle did not help either...

[.X.]

Kevin, if you get a chance, would love to get a report from you on the trip.

[Burgs]

Well out of context I know but:
"One missed tackle ... is not what beats them."
Waratahs Defensive Coach Les Kiss.
Shepherd has let a couple of crucial ones through this season however, from that huge first half, any team should have held on for a victory.
Here's hoping the monkey (or Brock James' baboon, maybe a good omen?) is off the back this weekend!

[The Duke]

Exile, I was in Jo'burg on business so went to the game. Did not get to socialise with the players either.

I enjoyed the game, which was hard, at times brutal - Sharp was eye gouged and had his nose bloodied. I thought that Tromp and Stolz could have got yellow (or Red) for over-robust play. Crowd behaviour was fine. I was one of few Force supporters wearing blue and received no crap...

Not a great turnout by the locals though, The few Cats supporters there were pessimistic and then pleasantly surprised as they began to look like getting up in the last few minutes.

Our boys snatched defeat from the jaws of victory...

[Burgs]

They couldn't possibly have been as pesimistic as the SA Radio commentator relayed through 6PR!
Great to hear from an Aussie point of view but really he was a shocker to his own nation.
Hoping Coach or someone else who recorded the broadcast may be able to post some of the quotes as they were absolute corkers!

[MysticBalls]

Hoping Coach or someone else who recorded the broadcast may be able to post some of the quotes as they were absolute corkers!

Good point Burgs. These 'corkers' were possibly 'clangers', but I've heard some great commentary 'rippers' too this year of the humorous type. It might be hard to put together, but I'd like to see a standing S14 thread next year on the commentary quotes - monitored and edited of course re defamation possibility. It would require postees to the "possible quotes site" to tape the game to get the accuracy needed. Kearnsey and Marto do a few each game!

Back to the game, Kevin can you throw any light on Graham being replaced? His loss had more to do with missed tackles than actually who missed the tackle.

For the Cats-11,000 crowd in Jo'burg- they deserved relegation!