Or is Morgan happy to jump the bandwagon for a quid? Jeremy Paul deserves a gig for jis loyalty.
Out of Oz atm and having a nite in for an early flight. Nice watching the Brums kick arse - the only Oz SR team I watch nowdays.
Printable View
Or is Morgan happy to jump the bandwagon for a quid? Jeremy Paul deserves a gig for jis loyalty.
Out of Oz atm and having a nite in for an early flight. Nice watching the Brums kick arse - the only Oz SR team I watch nowdays.
Undefeated Western Force move to top of the table with win over Kagifa Samoa
Nick Taylor
The West Australian
Saturday, 15 June 2019 6:39PM
Two power tries in the 44-28 bonus point win over Kagifa Samoa at Ballymore yesterday sent an undefeated Western Force back to the top of the Global Rapid Rugby Pacific showcase series table.
The nine-point try, unique to GRR, is scored when a side starts a move inside their own 22 metres and the Force ran them in either side of half-time to leapfrog Fijian Latui on the ladder.
The two sides meet in the final game of the season at HBF Park next Friday night.
More here
https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-l...ng-b881231810z
Nice write-up by Wayne Smith in the Australian newspaper
Western Force star as Global Rapid Rugby makes east coast debut
Andrew Forrest is still working on the “global” element but certainly the Western Force and Kagifa Samoa turned on a brilliantly entertaining match at Ballymore as Global Rapid Rugby made its east coast debut in front of about 2000 spectators today.
In the end, thanks to a last-minute try from second-rower Johan Bardoiul from an attacking lineout, the Force prevailed 44-28 but for long periods of the match, it seemed that only the fact that the Perth club has scored two long-range tries for a total of 18 points – the first time it has ever scored a power try double – that allowed it to come out on top.
There was some concern as Kagifa Samoa winger Ah Mu Tuimalealiifano was taken from the ground on a stretcher after suffering a whiplash injury but early indications were that he was not seriously injured.
READ NEXT
TAX CUTS
Fight brews over tax cuts
AGENCIES
The victory sets up a virtual Asia-Pacific grand final for the Force against Fiji next week in Perth.
“I think both sides there showed their capability of throwing the ball around,” said Force coach Tim Sampson. “There were some pretty highly-skilled passages of play there.”
The Force was coming off a 63-5 victory the last time these two sides met, barely a fortnight ago, but Sampson had emphasized to his players that the re-match would not go the same way. “Although the scoreline blew out, it was quite a tough game. We came into this game expecting another tight contest.”
When the Force scored within two minutes of the start of play, it certainly seemed to Brisbane spectators that they were about to watch a re-enactment of the first meeting of these two sides.
It was, as much, the ease with which the Force broke the line that fueled that belief, with second-rower Fergus Lee Warner powering through some flimsy defence to score right beside the posts.
But then the Kagifa Samoa’s resistance stiffened, their defence began to display that familiar Samoan sting and it came as no real surprise when they levelled the scored at 7-7, again from a close-to-the-line charge, this time by flanker Laga Fukofuka.
Samoa, though being dominated at scrum time, were having the better of the general exchanges and a string of four successive penalties enabled them to camp in the Force’s half. From the last of those penalties, they kicked to the corner, and almost powered over from the resulting lineout. The Force just held but two phases later the defence opened alarmingly and lock Nili Moala was able to pick up from the ruck base and drive over the line.
The Samoans increasingly were asserting themselves. Five-eighth Sheldon Tarawa neatly sized up the situation and crosskicked in behind the Force line to flying winger David Feliuai who showed deft soccer skills to toe the ball ahead where it came to a tantalizing stop in the in-goal area. It would have needed only one other Samoan to chase to be rewarded with a try but sadly for the islanders, the first man to arrive was Force fullback Jack McGreegor.
Undeterred, the Samoans kept pressing, with giant centre Chris Kuridrani, previously of the Queensland Reds, surging through a gap in midfield. Player by player, the Samoans lined up to continue the raid, with fullback Kalione Hala linking in, so too centre Tino Mafoe, before a pass was flung to Feliuai waiting patiently on the wing. A Force hand just deflected it but Feliuai regathered and was in the act of placing the ball over the line a dramatic try when, perversely, it slipped from his grasp.
Barely had the scrum formed as the halftime siren prepared to sound than the Force rallied for one last desperate throw. Halfback Isaac Fines retreated into his own in-goal to fetch a loose pass and then weaved his way through the defence, linking with fullback McGregor before linking with the one man every team wants to have the ball at such a moment, Rod “Rocket” Davies.
No doubt knowing every inch of the Ballymore turf from his six seasons with Reds, Davies fired the afterburners and there was nothing the Samoans could do as he accelerated away to score a nine-point power try. “That was a critical moment in the match, just before halftime,” said Sampson. “We could easily have been down 21-7.
That put the Force, somewhat unfairly, into a 16-14 lead as the players headed to the sheds but within two minutes of the re-start Mafoe had used his nuggety build to crash through the defence to restore Samoa to the lead, 21-16.
They looked to be powering away when Kuridrani backhanded a pass, Samu Kerevi-like, to supports but a kick ahead landed nearly for Andrew Deegan, who had come off the bench as Samson called on his A-team, and in a twinkling he had linked with halfback Fines for a sweetly-worked try. And when Davies sprinted into a backline move and motored into open spaces, sending a reverse pass to a try-bound Tevin Ferris, order seemingly had been restored as the Force kicked out to a 37-21 lead.
Yet still the Samoans weren’t done, working their way to within a metre of the Force line where loosehead Andrew Stowers picked his moment and then plunged over for the try.
Samoa really only made 32 tackles? I know Samoa had quite a lot of possession, but surely the Force had more ball than that!
The "Spirit" of the original InnFORCEers Tours was drawn from TWFers/JBs Crew with the aim as per the title to attend as many bars as possible while on tour to see a Force game.
Alison doing a great job with the Sea of Blue Tours :approve:, but if you were on an InnFORCEers Tour, you would know about it :cheers:
True. And who holds the title of most bars on an InnForcer's Tour? Last I heard it was the epic Africa Tour of '14! (Okay, so we did spend nearly 5 weeks on tour!)
No way I could keep up with a pub crawl these days! The Sea of Blue tours are a little more sedate!