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Yep. It's time to get into the Rabble
Wounds run deep as Western Force prepare for Friday’s big grudge clash with Melbourne Rebels
Nick Taylor
The West Australian
Sun, 7 March 2021 2:00AM
THE Western Force’s drought-busting Super AU win is done and dusted. Next up is the grudge clash with the Melbourne Rebels.
Force coach Tim Sampson let his side celebrate Friday’s emotional 20-16 Super Rugby AU victory over the Waratahs at Bankwest Stadium.
But he quickly turned the focus on HBF Park and Friday night’s bitter match with the Rebels - the side controversially saved by Rugby Australia four years ago as they swung the axe over the Force.
“We created history. It was big moment,” Sampson said.
“It’s important to celebrate moments like this but the guys are smart. They know they have to get back on the horse pretty quickly.
“We’ll turn our attention pretty quickly to the Rebels.”
The win at Bankwest Stadium came 1329 days after the Force’s last Super victory, ironically the 40-11 flogging of the Waratahs, with 1092 days in exile before they were back into the new-look competition last year.
It ended a nine-game Super Rugby AU losing streak and heaped more misery on the Waratahs who are now three games without a win.
The Force rallied from 13-0 down and battled out the last 20 minutes with 14 players after reserve hooker Andrew Ready was red-carded for punching.
Sampson was pleased with the late defensive effort.
“We knew we were going to be up against it. To defend at the end like that shows great signs,” he said.
“We have belief that we can finish on top of teams.”
Force first try scorer, second-rower Fergus Lee-Warner, said it was “unreal” to get the first win.
“Morale’s high. The boys are pretty stoked. We weren’t at our best but it’s unreal to get the win,” he said.
“That’s just one ‘W’. The focus is now on the Rebels.”
Lee-Warner revealed centre Richard Kahui had tough words after the Waratahs scored an early try from a rolling maul.
“Richard asked us if we were awake, told us it was time to wake up and get on with,” Lee-Warner said.
“We had a few errors in that first 20 minutes.
“We were a bit complacent but turned the screws in the second 20 of the first half. It was grind in the second half after we got the red.”
Lee-Warner was on the end of a pass from flanker Tim Anstee who made a massive line break for his first-half try. Anstee smashed his way for his own early in the second period.
“I was screaming for it because I was unmarked and I could see Tim was slowly getting chased down by (Jack) Maddocks,” Lee Warner said.
“Luckily I got it down.”
Well, the Brumbies would have lost if they hadn't scored three tries. Force will need both some penetration and some discipline, so hopefully they've been working on both after the first two weeks...
Our attack needs to step up this week. Been too flat so far. Where is Kuridrani? He’s been a disappointment for me so far. They should move Kahui to 13 and bring Taefu in at 12 to sharpen the attack.
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I was thinking the same thing. McIntyre was also pretty underwhelming. Far too much shoveling and running sideways instead of engaging the defensive line and then passing, which put a lot of pressure on whomever he was passing to as it was rather telegraphed.
Wouldn't mind seeing McGregor or Miotti given a bit of a run at fullback to give us a second playmaker to help spark our attack. Tough to leave Kearney out of the line-up though, but we should probably manage his workload.
I thought Kuridrani looked a little lost for a while, towards the end of the first half he made some good runs, it was almost as if he'd realised how he can play again. I think the red card put the boys in their shells quite badly.
I thought McIntyre was ok, certainly an improvement on Jono, he stood super flat in the beginning of the match and slid progressively deeper as the game wore on. Kicking out of hand was abysmal though.
for my money, I'd take a large spoonful of what Ben Darwin was dishing up and not change too much. Swap McIntyre and Miotti, Give Tim Anstee more freedom to run into gaps and find a hooker who isn't prone to season ending brain-farts. I don't think they're far from putting together a great performance but they need time together to work the kinks out and the win will give them a little confidence that they can repeat the process.
I don't think the Rebels have anything for us on paper, we should scrum at every opportunity, because they'll persist in putting Faumasili on the field even though he's proven to be the weakest scrummager in the nation (but pretty dynamic round the field. They should also begin by attaching the Rebels' breakdown, we can't afford to hold the line and tackle them to death when they'll kick anything we give them from 60 out.
Hold the ball, bash the breakdown while the Rebs think we're going to sit back and play the game in offensive 22.
C'mon the![]()
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For mine i thought the attack was too deep and well and truly telegraphed. Most of the time the 2nd receiver is getting hospital passes. Starting to look very clinical. No darting runs from halfback, hardly any pick and go's, not much to challenge the defensive team and keep them backtracking. Way too many times the 2nd receiver was getting the ball nearly 10m behind the gainline.
Personally I'd like to see Henry given a dash in the centres, McGregor added as extra fire power in attack and maybe McDonald given a chance at half later in the game.
By time Kuridrani was getting the ball it was often from well behind the gain line and with the defense in his face. No kicking out of hand also meant the Tahs defense could rush up.
When he got the ball quickly he actually made a couple of decent carries.
Need to be not so predictable in attack.
I agree and also think the tactic would have worked against the Tahs, at least to put them in two minds because their defense kept rushing up on our outside backs.
Either a game plan thing or it's not a skill McIntyre is 100% with - the one time he tried it it on Friday night it ricocheted and we lost 40 odd meters.
I was a bit critical of Kahui trying to kick in behind the D when it wasn't really on last season. He looks a lot sharper after a full pre-season so we might see a few well placed dabs on Friday.
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