Western Force vs Crusaders: Match Report

[andrewM]

General ball handling skills A
-good to see that the Force aren't giving away possession by dropping the ball or doing silly passes and are consistently stringing together phases of play

General Team cohesion A
Apart from the first 10 minutes, they have continued to develop as a team. Tonight was dominated by good team work rather than flashes of individual brilliance or failure.

Attacking play A-
Tried hard, made pretty good use of the backline, some creative moves

Commitment A+
At the end of the game you could see the guys really hurting

Defence and manning up - B-
The tries at the start and the end really hurt and really shaped the game

Line outs - A+
Ball was caught and delivered cleanly for most of the night. Working well

Penalty Kicks -
A+ Can't fault Jimmy or Willie on that one!

Kicking - B-
some good grubbers let down by average kicks for territory

Scrums B
Need some work.

Support B
Too many times when force player with ball was 10 metres ahead of nearest team member

Tackling B-
The first 10 minutes cost us badly

Rucks - B
can't really fault them on that, with the exception that sometimes the support was too far behind

Overall, a good effort, the guys can definitely hold their heads up high. If they play like this next week they should smash the Tahs. Good game though we in the crowds could have done more to support our team - we were almost out supported by the 'Saders fans

[JamesBrown]

It's already been mentioned a bit so I won't go on too much about it. Vinny's reffing was generally good but you can't help but feel peeved that he didn't ping Flynn or Bill Williams for not releasing the ball after he had done that to Cummins. Consistency is a must in rugby, even if you are consistently wrong. Given that both incidences lead to the try that regained the Crusaders the lead, you could argue that it lost us the game.

this was absolutely woeful i cant beleive it actually happend!!!!

[beige]

So are missed tackles, knock on's and bad passes. Lets focus on the stuff in our control first, before blaming particular referee decisions.

The ref will have to write down that he made a potential game changing result, and he will learn. But really, considering the blistering pace of that game i don't know how many other S15 refs would of stayed ontop of things as well as Vinnie Munro did.

Pretty good summation I think - really people, we don't need an 'out' for every loss.

[travelling_gerry]

What else are you going to talk about for the week?

[AndyS]

Well, all I can say is that that game demonstrated pretty much everything that matters when comparing the Crusaders with their record and the Force with ours.

[.X.]

One great thing that came out of this match

How good does nib stadium look when its full???

Looked awesome on TV

[DR GRAFENBURGH]

I thought pinging us for going early on an attacking scrum not far from their line with just over 10 minutes to go was a turning point. The Force had arrested the momentum and were hot on attack.

The Crusaders won the championship round. They won the big moments when the game was on the line. Fairs fair. Some of the decisions in the last 10 minutes did help their cause however.

JOC kicked out on the full. This probably had something to do with a couple of the hits $BW put on him in the game. He was scanning his periphery when he should have been looking where he wanted to kick it. That's what pressure does.

Bad kick, bad scrum.......game over.

Israel Dag was simply electric at 15 for the saders.

A magnificent game

The Force proved yet again they can compete at the highest level and can dig themselves out of a massive hole with guts and determination. A lot of teams would have rolled over and been put to the sword. The saders came to play and we got to test our boys against the best at their best. They passed the challenge.

It is however, enormously frustrating, that this team often is in front with 5-10 minutes to go and loses.

It is enormously rewarding that this team will fight to the death however. Time after time, year after year against seemingly all odds and in seemingly hopeless siutaions, they are able to hang in there and make a very exciting game of it. It is inspiring that the team fights very very hard. For that I am extremely proud.

As a

[Thequeerone]

Lads did well - it was a good watching game - even the Crusader fans enjoyed the outing and will be back - yeap some of the younger backs lost focus at the end but we did very well great to see Sheps back on from

[theforceguy]

So are missed tackles, knock on's and bad passes. Lets focus on the stuff in our control first, before blaming particular referee decisions.

The ref will have to write down that he made a potential game changing result, and he will learn. But really, considering the blistering pace of that game i don't know how many other S15 refs would of stayed ontop of things as well as Vinnie Munro did.

LOL You say he will learn but I doubt it, he is almost 43 years old The reason he missed so many things is because he just could not keep up with the fast paced game He was out of position on numerous occasions arriving at the breakdown just in time to be in the way of the next faze of play.
There was a chance that the Crusaders would have been scoreless in the second half if it wasn't for his poor decisions!! At one stage in the second half I thought the ref was a Crusaders employee that was put there to make sure they kick the Force's ass.

Why get a "has been" referee all the way from New Zealand I would have much rather seen a young and upcomming referee like Julian Pritchard referee that match.

[kelv]

Can't blame the ref for missed tackles and dropped ball just the usual choke by the force. Most weeks they are competitive for 60min and fall away.

[oxleymoron]

What I would like to see for next week is the change every now and then during the game of swapping rabbit and ripia on attack between 10 and 12. They have two different playing styles and we have seen it work for the wallabies ( barnes and quade) so why not try it at s15 level?
Posted via Mobile Device

[Darren]

[force addict]

that was probably the most exciting game ever! saders supporters all around me for good banter and that 1st try for us was incredible!! the stadium full is AWESOME. definitely a game to remember - who cares that we lost? we were competitive most of the time and we had some brilliant moments - those two tries were amazing, edge of my seat the entire time. McCaw getting carded was definitely a highlight

[James]

Todd Blackadder paid out some heavy praise for the Force in the post match interview. Seems he is almost as big a Force fan as we are. Makes it really hard not to really like the guy.

[jazza93]

LOL You say he will learn but I doubt it, he is almost 43 years old The reason he missed so many things is because he just could not keep up with the fast paced game He was out of position on numerous occasions arriving at the breakdown just in time to be in the way of the next faze of play.
There was a chance that the Crusaders would have been scoreless in the second half if it wasn't for his poor decisions!! At one stage in the second half I thought the ref was a Crusaders employee that was put there to make sure they kick the Force's ass.

Why get a "has been" referee all the way from New Zealand I would have much rather seen a young and upcomming referee like Julian Pritchard referee that match.

Saying he is old and a has-been refutes absolutely nothing i said. If you think 40-50 year olds can't be fit enough to ref rugby games, go and watch this years Busselton Ironman and check out the 40+ age groups, they are just about the fastest age group. (39-45). Not to mention how much these guys (the refs) actually train, it is a huge insult to say he doesn't do enough to keep up with games.

And if Julian reffed that game i'm sure everyone would have come out and said "why are we getting unexperienced refs", and blaming him for the loss...

His age is pretty much irrelevant, but maybe you should send the IRB a letter informing them he may be too old to keep up with games at the world cup.