Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: Defence Force: Waratahs ready for western front

  1. #1
    Champion GAFFA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Gosnells
    Posts
    2,180
    vCash
    5000000

    Defence Force: Waratahs ready for western front

    The Western Force may be last year's Australian wooden spooners with about half of the Waratahs' big-name talent.

    But while NSW supporters were debating the make-up of Michael Cheika's best back line over the preseason, the Force were being trained by the SAS.

    "It was to distress them and see how they stuck together," Force coach Michael Foley said of the two-day hell march the squad undertook in November.

    This weekend, in the opening round of the regular season for Australia and New Zealand, there is every chance it will be NSW in distress.

    The Force will bring every ounce of their trademark defensive style to bear on the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium on Sunday in pursuit of the sort of upset victory that solidifies belief among the winning side and corrodes it among the losers.

    "For the crowd's sake I hope it's going to be an entertaining game but I know that it's going to be a real dogfight," Waratahs utility Adam Ashley-Cooper said.

    "They are a tough team, defensively they are really strong and they have always had a great back row who challenge for the ball at the ruck. Luckily for us we had the Highlanders [last week] who really challenged us in that area, so it kind of prepared us for this week and we're expecting the Force to do exactly the same thing."

    Ashley-Cooper, with 91 Tests of experience under his belt, knows better than most the perils of underestimating an opponent.

    The Force won just four matches in their first season under Foley, the former NSW coach, last year.

    But two of those were classic upsets - a 16-14 win against the Crusaders in round nine and a final-round 21-15 shock over the Brumbies, who went on to play in the Super Rugby final.

    They also held Australia's other finalists the Reds to an 11-11 draw and later poached one of Queensland's best outside backs, Luke Morahan.

    Back east, everyone was talking about the Folau-Beale-Foley partnership. In Perth, Foley and backs coach Kevin Foote quietly assembled their own arsenal, with the articulated aim of moving the ball more in attack.

    Morahan and five-eighth Zack Holmes, who defected from the Brumbies, were astute additions to a back line boasting Wallabies winger Nick Cummins, former All Blacks halfback Alby Mathewson and playmaker Kyle Godwin.

    Godwin was one of the finds of last year whose inevitable graduation to Test rugby was cruelly thwarted by a shoulder reconstruction.

    Then there is the Force pack, featuring Ben McCalman, Matt Hodgson and Hugh McMeniman. If his body holds up - disappointingly still a genuine 'if' - McMeniman could play a key role in leading the team out of its dark days of mediocrity.

    "It's an Australian team playing an Australian team, you know each other inside out, so it's going to be one of those real physical battles," Ashley-Cooper said.

    "We want to get the season off on a winning note. Luckily we have a bit of a long turnaround so we can do everything we can to get ready for this first one."

    For Ashley-Cooper and the rest of the Waratahs backs, this week marks the end of the guessing game.

    Coach Michael Cheika will declare his selection hand early this week. The big reveal will be where and how he uses his ball players Kurtley Beale and Bernard Foley.

    "They are both great attacking threats with the ball and they create a lot of opportunities and that is exactly what an outside back or midfielder wants," Ashley-Cooper said of his teammates.

    "It depends on what [Cheika] wants to run with - does he want a ball player with two midfield running backs or does he want two ball players and one mid field runner.

    "Whatever combination he's going to [use], it's going to be dangerous and for us it's a matter of using that danger and those attacking threats on the day.

    "You could probably have your one guarantee and that's Izzy at fullback."



    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...#ixzz2tXNiwUWJ

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    “Everyone knows whether it’s rugby, politics or whatever, front-rowers should rule the world, so to have a hooker at the helm makes sense,” Nathan Charles Western Force & Wallabies Hooker.

  2. #2
    Veteran
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    3,018
    vCash
    4084000
    yep, forgot about Folau... whats the plan to stop him. We have never been strong in the air, and now we have to compete with the worlds best.

    What is morohan like in the air?

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  3. #3
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Earth Capital
    Posts
    21,468
    vCash
    460000
    I was going to put up his try against the Lions but Morahan didn't leave the ground to take the ball

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  4. #4
    Senior Player Herbasimplex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Valley Forge
    Posts
    529
    vCash
    5000000
    The tahs always start strong and they are lauded as the second coming and the wheels usually fall off mid-season. I think their preparation has been better than ours to this point and it will be hard to get over the top of them at their home.

    We should play to our strengths. Keep it tight in the forwards and slow their ball down. Holmes should run with the ball all day and we should keep possession. Kick for the sideline when necessary to break up the play and give the tahs a lineout and get our defensive line set rather than giving Folau a run in broken play.

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  5. #5
    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Mandurah
    Posts
    15,726
    vCash
    5470000
    Quote Originally Posted by palitu View Post
    yep, forgot about Folau... whats the plan to stop him. We have never been strong in the air, and now we have to compete with the worlds best.

    What is morohan like in the air?
    I don't think it's possible to stop him. A plan to limit him is about all you can do. It's been said many times but - no bloody aimless kicking out of hand. I think we can get the better of them at the breakdown. Especially if Madness is right. Inside the 22 sacrifice a little distance and make certain you find touch. Alby rarely box kicks and when he does it's pretty effective and he chases really hard but needs others to do the same. Any deviation from that will earn a stint on the sidelines. Otherwise it's watch the Izzy show and start the season with a loss.

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    "The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David


  6. #6
    Champion GAFFA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Gosnells
    Posts
    2,180
    vCash
    5000000
    when they are in our half we can afford to go hard at the break down they lack a top end goal kicker with Foley and beale the only ones and both can be all over the place. they also lack a left foot kicker so if we do kick pin them down the right hand corner if they kick it wont be very effective.

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    “Everyone knows whether it’s rugby, politics or whatever, front-rowers should rule the world, so to have a hooker at the helm makes sense,” Nathan Charles Western Force & Wallabies Hooker.

  7. #7
    Legend Contributor
    Moderator
    Happy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    JB O'Reilly's
    Posts
    8,172
    vCash
    5000000
    if they (Folau) doesn't have the ball you don't have to stop them (him)

    please not another season of endless / chaseless kicks

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    Chuck Norris has the greatest Poker-Face of all time. He won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game Uno.

  8. #8
    Legend Contributor brokendown gunfighter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    wembley
    Posts
    8,036
    vCash
    5364000
    & mindless penalties--I hope Arthur has given them Homework to swat up on the laws of the game

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  9. #9
    Veteran SNOB's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Carramar WA (gods country)!
    Posts
    4,061
    vCash
    3481639
    Aimless kicking and stupid penalties have lost us all those close games! If that hasn't been drummed into their skulls by now I will be very disappointed with Foley.
    Also the inability to change the game plan when it isn't working. But all of those are things of the past and a New Force will run out on Sunday arvo.

    2 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    May the FORCE be with you!

  10. #10
    Veteran Contributor hertryk's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Devonport Tasmania
    Posts
    4,881
    vCash
    5000000
    It's been said many times but - no bloody aimless kicking out of hand......

    Unfortunately we did see some of that on Friday... STOP IT!! Boys..JUST S T O P IT!!!!

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  11. #11
    Veteran valzc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Denmark WA
    Posts
    2,841
    vCash
    5066000
    Quote Originally Posted by Happy View Post
    if they (Folau) doesn't have the ball you don't have to stop them (him)

    please not another season of endless / chaseless kicks
    AMEN to that!!!

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  12. #12
    Champion Rex Messup's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Fremantle
    Posts
    2,173
    vCash
    5000000
    Quote Originally Posted by brokendown gunfighter View Post
    & mindless penalties--I hope Arthur has given them Homework to swat up on the laws of the game
    This is a rugby team. If they are given homework, they won't do it. They have twitter accounts to attend to

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    Controversy corner

  13. #13
    Champion Tonkar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    west Kulin / East Wickepin
    Posts
    1,370
    vCash
    5000000
    Quote Originally Posted by Rex Messup View Post
    This is a rugby team. If they are given homework, they won't do it. They have twitter accounts to attend to

    Can some one blanket tweet to all force players no aimless kicking and see if they get the message then

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!

Similar Threads

  1. New South Wales Waratahs ready to face fired up Western Force
    By travelling_gerry in forum NSW Waratahs
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 18-03-10, 14:40
  2. New South Wales Waratahs ready to face fired up Western Force
    By travelling_gerry in forum NSW Waratahs
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 16-03-10, 09:34
  3. Replies: 10
    Last Post: 16-06-09, 17:25
  4. Wales ready to begin title defence
    By NewsBot in forum News Feeds
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-02-06, 17:22
  5. England ready for Dubai defence
    By NewsBot in forum News Feeds
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 01-12-05, 03:41

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •