Force -v- Chiefs, how it happened

[Darren]

From the RugbyWA Live Match Call - www.rugbywa.com.au

Emirates Western Force vs Chiefs. Kickoff 10.35am WA time, Saturday 14 April.

Five minutes til kick off in Hamilton. No late changes to either side. It's sunny at the moment, but there are clouds hovering and showers are expected. Pretty good crowd in Mooloo country, the Land of the Mitch if you will.

Referee today is Craig Joubert from South Africa. Force to kick off, and we're away...

Second minute and Tai McIsaac is pinged for not rolling away at the breakdown. Stephen Donald will kick for goal from about 40m in a swirling breeze - and he lands it nicely. First points go to the Chiefs, 3-0

The Force hit straight back! Several phases in succession for the boys in blue sees Nathan Sharpe stroll over for a try after Cam Shepherd and Matt Giteau created some space. Giteau converts, Force lead 7-3 after 5 minutes.

8 mins and the Force are flying in attack - great breaks from O'Young and Drew Mitchell

Oh no! Cam Shepherd throws a terrible pass, which Roy Kinikinilau intercepts and takes it 80m to score. Donald converts, 10-7 Chiefs. Chris O'Young off to the blood bin, Jon McGrath on. 9 mins gone

Scott Fava makes a lovely break, offloads to Matt Hodgson who is taken high by Kinikinilau and the penalty is awarded 25m out directly in front. Giteau kicks the goal, 10-10 after just 13 minutes!

All action start here in Hamilton. Both sides seem intent on playing running attractive rugby today

Wow the Force are making line breaks at will... some average tackling from the Chiefs

17 mins and Mr Joubert asks the TMO to ajudicate as Gits appears to have scored in the corner... it's a Yes! Try time to Kid Dynamite! More soft defence there from the Chiefs' big men; Gitty just went straight under some big guys. Gits can't convert, 15-10 now.

Force have had 78% of possession in the first 20 minutes

Try to the Chiefs... where is the defence today? Leila Masaga ambles over after the Chiefs take it 60m in several phases. Donald converts; Chiefs lead 17-15 after 23 mins. Kelleher replaced by Brendan Leonard (blood)

Donald criuses through some flimsy defence, but his kick ahead for Masaga is covered by Shep.

Breakaway try to the Force is called back after Shep puts a foot in touch. End to end stuff here

Penalty against Taipan is reversed after Robinson pulls at his headgear. Force in good attacking position again

30 mins and some terrible defence allows halfback Leonard to take the ball 60 metres from the back of the scrum all the way to score the Chiefs third try. Conversion attempt by Donald hits the upright, but it's 22-15 now.

More great attacking play from the Chiefs is ended as Shepherd pushes Kinikinilau into touch just 3 metres out.

37 mins and Kinikinilau scores under the posts about 15 phases after a 5m lineout. Donald converts the fourth Chiefs try to make it 29-15.

HALF TIME: Chiefs 29 Emirates Western Force 15. Some great attacking rugby in the first 40 minutes, but really the most noticable area was the defence of both sides - or lack thereof I should say. Giteau, Mitchell, Shepherd and Pelesasa have made breaks and looked dangerous. The backrow has looked unsettled and I think we may see David Pusey sooner rather than later. Winger Kinikinilau has been terrific, while Stephen Donald has run the attack nicely.

Chiefs have had 69% of territory while the Force have had 61% of possession. The missed tackle count is 8 to 7, but I think whoever is keeping that stat fell asleep at the 15 minute mark.

Fantastic start from the Force - try time for Shepherd after Pelesasa, Hardy and Brown set him up. Giteau converts from the sideline to make it 29-22 after 42 mins.

Penalty against Matt Hodgson at the breakdown. Donald kicks the goal from a tough angle. Chiefs lead back out to 10, 32-22 after 44 mins.

My goodness - another try, this time it's Tanerau Latimer for the Chiefs. Sione Lauaki set that one up after strolling past Junior Pelesasa's attempted tackle. Donald misses the kick, 37-22 now. Troy Takiari replaces AJ Whalley now too. 50 mins gone

And another try... Tasesa Lavea takes the Sivivatu offload and crosses untouched next to the posts. Force had just turned the all over on their own line. Donald converts, 44-22 after 54 mins.

And now Nathan Sharpe is down in the hands of Doc Steele and physio Rob Naish. Pusey set to come on. Scott Staniforth has come on for Ryan Cross, who has not had his best day. Sharpe is ok and will soldier on.

Try to Drew Mitchell! Gits puts him into a hole after the forwards work hard to draw in the defence. Gits converts from right in front, 44-29 now in the 59th minute

Pusey on for Rudi Vedelago in the second row.

60th minute and it's a seventh try to the Chiefs. Leonard gets his second from the scrum base 22m out. 49-29 now as Donald hits the upright again. A couple of Chiefs subs too - Ormsby and Payne replace Gibbes and masaga.

Luke Doherty out there for Scott Fava

Luke Holmes on for Tai McIsaac for the Force, Stephen Bates for Lauaki for the Chiefs. 65 mins

68 mins and a superb individual try to Matt Giteau. Both teams throwing the ball around, and as the big forwards tire the quick men step up. Gits converts, 49-36.

Lavea off, Tuipolotu has come on. 72 mins

Penalty to the Chiefs for obstruction against Nathan Sharpe. Donald will try his luck from 55m. It's a beaut of a kick to bring up the half century. Chiefs lead 52-36 after 74 mins.

Wonderful skills from Leonard and Messam put Kinikinilau over for his hat-trick of tries. The big winger has had an outstanding game. Donald can't convert, but his team leads 57-36 now. AJ Whalley returns for Takiari.
Brendan Leonard has a hat-trick now too! For the third time the scrumhalf just cruises from the scrumbase, and a couple of passes later he scores again. 64-36.

FULL TIME: Chiefs 64 Emirates Western Force 36. 100 points and 14 tries in 80 minutes - the crowd at Waikato Stadium certainly got value for money. Roy Kinikinilau and Brendan Leonard starred for the Chiefs with three tries apiece, and they were not alone. Matt Giteau scored twice while Shep, Sharpie and Drew also crossed for tries. Coach Mitchell will be very concerned with the defence, which has conceded 117 points in the last two games. A bonus point for the Force will be scant consolation, who will play the Brumbies at Canberra Stadium on Friday night. The Chiefs are now fourth, jumping the Force and the Brumbies on the table. We'll see you on Friday night.

[Thequeerone]

To be honest I thought that there were more pluses in that game then the Crusaders - delighted Sharpie got a try - Gitts did well - Junior was on fire - silly defensive stuff lost the game - and exhaustion at the end - but it was creditable - roll on the Brumbies - lads we need to start winning there is no VCash left

We got a bonus point to - not a bad effort from Kiwi land

[pruc]

atleast we played an attacking style of rugby. which is good to see. we still need to fix our defence up!!!

[Mr Hasbeen]

Certainly played an attacking style....but strewth, to go from 3rd on the table to 7th in 2 weeks!!!!


And defensive, 2 weeks ago, the Force had the fewest number of points scored against them.

These things happen, I suppose.

[number9]

Certainly the top service and the go forward from Chris Oýoung slowed any chance of winning.The minutes leading up to his high shot we look to have the upper hand on the game.

[JediKnight]

Shows how much Henjak brings to the team...our defence around the fringes & scrums looks a lot weaker without him. Let's hope he's fit & back in the starting line-up soon.

[Burgs]

Mitchell has faith in Force

April 15, 2007 - 10:22am
Story by: Sportal

Despite having been on the receiving end of two heavy losses in as many weeks, Western Force coach John Mitchell believes his side still has what it takes to make the Super 14 semi-finals.

After a sizzling start to the season, which included five wins from the opening eight weeks, the Force has suffered heavy defeats by the Crusaders and Chiefs in the last fortnight.

However, despite surrendering 117-points in rounds 10 and 11, Mitchell believes the Force is still going to be a title contender come May.

"We've still got an opportunity. We still control our own destiny," he said after his side lost 64-36 to the Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday afternoon.

"We go back to Australia now to take on the Brumbies who have been the benchmark of Australian rugby in recent years.

"Then we have two home games so it's ahead of us."

Having boasted an impressive defensive record this season until coming up against the Crusaders in round 10, Mitchell admitted there was some work to be done on his side's defence.

"I guess they were probably just a little bit better on defence than us tonight," he added.

"The fans certainly got their value and while the Chiefs got the result, I think both teams were probably guilty of pretty poor defence."

And although disappointed with his side's recent haemorrhaging of points, Mitchell believes his players will learn from their mistakes and be better because of them.

"It [our defence] is an issue," he said.

"The players have had probably their two greatest rugby lessons of their careers in the last two weeks and often adversity like that can be people's greatest positive going forward."

Skipper Nathan Sharpe also agreed with his coach's sentiments and suggested there was plenty for the side to be positive about, despite losing to the Chiefs.

"It was certainly a very open game. It's not very often that 100 points are scored in a game," Sharpe said.

"There was plenty of running but I think defensively, obviously we were the worst side. There was some pretty skilful rugby out there as well."

[The Lone Hydrangea]

Shows how much Henjak brings to the team...our defence around the fringes & scrums looks a lot weaker without him. Let's hope he's fit & back in the starting line-up soon.

You have nailed it here Jedi. We are missing his mongrul.

[Egan]

I think we can expect the boys to fire up for the Derby, I didn't get a chance to watch it but it seems as if we didn't do to badly during the game. It would be fantastic if we rebound with a solid win against the Brumbies this week.

Hopefully our defence gets the confidence it had when it was at home, it would be a shame to waste such a positive start to the season.

Alas we are yet to win in New Zealand yet and every game I have seen them play in New Zealand is not the same Force side as what you see in Australia or South Africa.

Hopefully we get a better squad leading into the new season.

[shasta]

It took a long time to learn to win a game away, longer to win at home. We'll have to wait for next year to win in NZ, because that the hardest to learn.

Expectations have risen a little faster than the team's progression.

How many thought, at the start of the season the boys would be still in contention at this stage? Patience. Patience.

[Egan]

Expectations rise and John Mitchell still has confidence we can make the finals, so maybe we are on par with what the Force expect after the good start.

This really is a crunch game this week.

[travelling_gerry]

True Egan, I THINK this is the first time he has mentioned contention for the Finals

[Burgs]

I am still not convinced that Mitch's primary motivation is making the Finals.
It is "of interest" for him for sure but I believe he is still coaching for experience and for next year.

There have been some selections and some matches day substitutions (or rather non substitutions) that say to me that getting the points "at all costs" isn't the main goal.
He wants to win of course, but if we are to win then it is with the XV he selects and if we don't then too bad but certain players will have been exposed to new circumstances.

Against the Chiefs was a prime example.
Jon McGrath was basically on debut (the few minutes against the Crusaders shouldn't count against him!) however, due to an early injury, was forced to play 70 odd minutes as the score continued to blow out.
I think overall he played a solid match and showed he will, in time, be a great back up to Henjak.
Unfortunately, their second Scrum Half had a devastating effect on the result while our third Scrum Half just did his job.

If that had been a Finals match I am 99% sure that Mitch would have been more proactive about shuffling the deck and trying something new around the 55-60 minute mark when, while still a fair way behind, the game was not yet lost.

Considering the situation I believe he would have tried to get the most experienced and talented Rugby players on the park, regardless of specific positions.
It was an open and flowing match where the number on their back didn't really amount to much.

Don't get me wrong, this is not about would "should" have started in certain positions etc, this is about saving a match that is sliding away and we are going to lose spectacularly on the current path.

A Coach playing for his life (or the Grand Final) would have put behind him any ego fight with his National peer and most probably made the following reshuffle:

9. #10 Giteau
10. #21 Hilgendorf
11. #11 Shepherd (However I would still prefer him at #15...)
12. #22 Staniforth
13. Either #12 Pelesasa or #13 Cross
14. #14 Ioane
15 #15 Mitchell (See 11.)

When he came on, last years Player of the Year had an instant impact and got us going forward.
Meanwhile, the 5/8 who served that '06 PotY for most of his best performances was getting splinters, the starting #12 continued to make defensive errors and a lesser player in the reserve #9 was getting fatigued.

To purely view this match as an isolated result in the pursuit of a S14 Title doesn't make any sense, the Coaching strategies would have to come into question.
The only thing to me that makes such "indecision" make sense is that Mitch is still prioritising the bigger picture regardless of the result.
He needs McGrath to get important match time.
He needs Pelesasa to know it's not just about attacking.
He needs Cross to see the results of not getting tackles in.
And most importantly, he needs the team to know why they must train at 100% every session an stay 100% focused to every snippet of information they are given and every aspect of their play.

You don't become a bad team in ten days, but you can drop that 5% that means that any team in this extraordinary Super 14 competition, not just the perennial mighty Crusaders, can put 50 points on you in the blink of an eye.

As others have said, we seem to have changed our expectations during the season, which really is a good thing. However, we shouldn't forget that pre-season the majority of us felt that we would be looking somewhere between 5th and 10th as a great improvement from 2006.
We agreed that it was year two in the "wonder Coach's" three year plan and that 2008 was the year.

Nothing I have seen so far in '07 would take away from that position, the Force is building in the West.
Any real or perceived "hoodoo" at Subiaco has been blown away, great wins have been record for two years in South Africa (including at altitude) and now the challenge is ahead of us in '08 to win in the Eastern half of the competition.

I hate losing.
I hate my team losing.
But I hate losers even more.
These boys have shown they aren't losers. They fight to the final whistle with the assets they have. Even if they aren't good enough to beat someone they still try and that makes me proud to support the Force.

We are still in with a shot of making the Finals however the season so far has shown that the Force is a completely different team from 2006 and the required improvement has been made.

Good luck to all for the final three (four or five!) matches and roll on year three!!!

[Happy]

You have nailed it here Jedi. We are missing his mongrul.

that sneaky try of theirs from the breakdown was pretty unforgivable ... where were you saturdee morning sire ???

[joblot]

I think we missed David Pocock. There were som yawning gaps around the rucks which the opposition half exploited brilliantly. He many runs did he get in without even being challenged? Too many.