Mitchell stays positive

[Burgs]

Mitchell stays positive

April 22, 2007 - 10:45pm
Story by: Sportal

Western Force coach John Mitchell listed a host of positives in his side's performance against the Brumbies on Friday night, despite the fact they lost the ‘do-or-die’ Investec Super 14 encounter 14-12.

It was a marked improvement from the Force, who conceded 117 points in their two previous matches, with the Brumbies only able to score a try just before half time when Ryan Cross was in the sin bin.

Mitchell praised his side's effort and remained positive after the match, but he would have been concerned by an injury to star winger Cameron Shepherd, who limped off the field with what appeared to be a knee injury.

The result puts a serious dent in the Force's finals hopes. With two games to go, the Perth-based team are on 27 points, a bonus-point game behind fourth spot, held equally by the Chiefs (32) and Bulls (32) four on 32 points, with the Brumbies 31.

But Mitchell said his side would still fight on, in case other results happened to go their way.

"We're still in with a chance," Mitchell said.

"We go home now and we'll have to win those matches, but we grabbed a point here so that still keeps us hanging in there.

"As you can see we aren't a side that's just going to hand it to anyone, we'll just keep working hard."

It was a cruel way for the Force to lose in Canberra. When former Brumby Matt Giteau silenced the home crowd with a 78th minute penalty goal to put the Force in front, they may have been forgiven for thinking that the result was going to go their way.

However, the Brumbies responded with a penalty of their own through Mark Gerrard, snatching the win with a minute to go.

Mitchell commended his squad for their performance, after they restricted the in-form Brumbies to only one try for the match.

"I thought it was an outstanding performance from the guys considering what we've come away from in New Zealand," Mitchell said.

"[I applaud] the pride and the effort, and the way that we defended with 14 men for 20 minutes, and then getting back in a position to win the match.

"I thought our plan at lineout defence worked really well. I probably would have liked a little more first phase attack, but we certainly nullified their first phase attack, which is, I guess, a big feature of the Brumbies.

"I want to lift these guys up, and support them, and just reflect on how far they've come within a week. I'm really proud of them.

"In terms of our defensive organisation, and the way we worked together tonight, we got back to those principles that held us in good stead."

The loss was worsened by the injury concern to Australia's highest point and try scorer in the competition, Force winger Cameron Shepherd, who was helped from the field in the late stages of the game.

"I don't think he injured himself in the collision, I think he just sort of tweaked it just before that collision, so let's just keep our fingers crossed," Mitchell said.

"We'll get that scanned, we don't know how acute it was at this stage."

[JediKnight]

Sounds like he's cooled down a bit.....by all accounts, his after-game words in the dressing room were not quite so complimentary or supportive!!!

[The InnFORCEr]

And he didn't seem to happy as they boarded the bus in Canberra. Would have been a pretty intense few hours to Sydney I would think.

[BeeJay]

Now here's the plan -
the Blues do the Bulls this week and deny them a bonus point.
The Waratahs (this week) and the Crusaders next put paid to the Chiefs chances.
The Brumbies go down to the Crusaders this week and (prob) the Highlanders next, and ...
WE win the last two games with bonus points!!!
Just to make certain, the Reds pull out the upset of the comp by downing the Bulls in the last game of Tuney's career for Qld!
Semi finals here we come!
Dreamin'?

[joblot]

I like it........Let's go!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AndyS]

To be more precise, the Force requires two bonus point wins and three of the following four scenarios to occur:

• The Sharks to lose both games against the Lions and Stormers, with no more than two bonus points
• The Bulls to win no more than one game against the Blues and Reds, with no bonus points or just one and their current 72 point advantage over the Force for/against being eliminated
• The Chiefs to win no more than one game against the Waratahs and Crusaders, with no bonus points or just one and their current 58 point advantage over the Force for/against being eliminated
• The Brumbies to win no more than one game against the Crusaders and Highlanders, with no more than one bonus point or two and their current 50 point advantage over the Force for/against being eliminated

In other words the Force needs two big wins and everyone else to have no more than one win, with low scoring or a big loss in the other game. Not impossible, with the prize being a rematch against the Crusaders at Jade without Shepherd.

For mine the last three weeks have shown that, while the Force is much improved, they are still not quite there. What he has said aside, I actually wonder whether Mitchell would really have much appetite for sending the team out against the Crusaders in a final this year. I know anything can happen on a rugby field etc etc, but I’m not sure the risk of a finishing the season with a repeat performance from three weeks ago would particularly fit his timeline for the team that well. I’m sure if the lads managed to make a finals berth it would be full steam ahead, but…

You don’t get a lot of opportunities in S14 to try things out, unless it is forced by injury or you have massive dominance over the opposition. We found out a lot about the team and players last year, but haven’t really tried much out this year in search of stable combinations. Now that the season is effectively out of our hands, I wonder whether the greater cause might be better served by playing with the line-up. Some of the things I’d like to see are:

• Giteau at 10 and Staniforth at 12 - big surprise there, but with Staniforth staying he must be looking for a more active role in the game than running a wing.
• Giteau at 10, Hilgendorf at 12 and Staniforth at 13 – I think this could be a particularly dangerous combination, as all can distribute under pressure (an area I think we were shown up a bit in NZ). The Giteau/Hilgendorf pairing is established, but Giteau is probably the better tactical kicker. Hilgendorf is an elusive runner in his own right, but is probably a bit more physical into contact. Think Carter/Mauger.
• Both Sare and Stapleton given a run at 14 (assuming Ioane goes to 11 for Shepherd) – Sare because I think he is very good and has been under-utilised this year, Stapleton because I would love to see that speed out wide (especially in conjunction with the G/H/S combination above). I reckon he’d scare the hell out of a few on the kick-chase too.

I’m not even sure it would compromise the finals chances either – Henjak, Giteau, Ioane, Hilgendorf, Staniforth, Stapleton and Mitchell spreading it wide against the Cheetahs would be very interesting.

Tougher in the forwards, but:

• Either Dan or Hockings given a run – If the Force was chasing Chisholm, they should at least give the younger guys already in their squad a crack. Haven’t seen either of them play (that I can remember), but I’d hope that one of them must be showing some promise.
• Holmes given a start – I am deeply ambivalent about the Force pursuing Moore, as McIsaac is a Wallaby and will want to start and the EOYT will have given Moore aspirations of his own. More importantly, at 24 yro Holmes must be looking for more responsibility himself. It might be a year early with Cannons injury, but I think the Force would be better off bringing a young guy through as third seat.

[BeeJay]

Excellent post AndyS. I think it unlikely that we can make up the points difference so the restriction of the others' bonus points must be hoped for. I like your ideas re the lineup as, given our defensive frailties have been ironed out for now, we need to score tries. The only time we've done that without leaking points at the other end has been against the 14 man bottom of the table Reds.
I disagree that Mitchell lacks the appetite for a semifinal stoush against the Crusaders. I think he and the team had set 2008 as the year to aim for the semi finals and an appearance a year early will do the team no end of good, whatever the result....