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Force regroup to face Sharks
Western Force cannot afford the ill-discipline that helped send them to the heartbreaking loss to the Bulls when they face the Sharks in Durban on Saturday night.
They ended up on the wrong end of a 22-10 penalty count in the last-minute 25-24 loss in Pretoria and were reduced to 13 men when referee Nick Briant sent second-rower Adam Coleman and prop Tetera Faulkner to the sin bin.
The Sharks will be quick to seize on mistakes with their accurate and long-range kickers and Force captain Sam Wykes knows his side cannot afford to fall foul of the referee again.
“It was a tough loss to swallow,” Wykes said.
“We can’t be emotional about the loss. It hurt initially but we have to move on quickly.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed with the result but it was not just the last- minute penalty, it was right through the game where our discipline let us down.
“We let ourselves down with some silly penalties but we’ll learn from it. We can’t make the same mistakes twice, especially with the kickers the Sharks have.
“Considering the penalty count, we scored three tries, we went through set phases and with 13 men still played some good rugby and made line breaks.”
With finals rugby on ice for another season, Wykes said the side still had plenty to play for.
They have lost the past six games against the Sharks and have won just one of the eight meetings.
The last time they played in Durban two years ago they crashed 53-11 but Wykes said there would be no repeat of that result.
“This is a new team. I don’t think any of the boys who played in that team are on tour,” he said.
“We’re not interested in the stats. We want the win. We know what we are in for and what we need to do to get a result.
“We’re upbeat leading into the week, we played some really good footy against the Bulls and some of the boys had their best games of the season.
“That’s the mindset we need for every game for the rest of the season.
“We won’t drop our chin, we play for the pride in the jersey.
“We’ve got loyal fans and we haven’t delivered but after the bye (following the Sharks match) there are nine games and we’ll be hungry for victories.”
The Sharks will be upbeat after their gutsy 12-11 win over the Chiefs last Saturday night despite losing captain and hooker Bismarck du Plessis and centre Francois Steyn to red cards.
Du Plessis has been banned for four weeks for kicking Chiefs No. 8 Michael Leitch but Steyn was cleared of dangerous play following his tackle on Aaron Cruden.
However, Steyn may be rested along with Marcell Coetzee, Patrick Lambie and Cobus Reinach under the arrangement with the South African Rugby Union that Springboks earmarked for the World Cup do not play more than five consecutive games.
Nick Taylor
March 24, 2015, 5:09 pm
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...o-face-sharks/
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harks v Force 
Originally Posted by Alison
Foley looks very subdued.... 
