Crusaders v Western Force 15 March 2025

[Tazzmania]

FORCE (1-15): Marley Pearce, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Tom Robertson, Jeremy Williams (c), Darcy Swain, Will Harris, Kane Koteka, Reed Prinsep; Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Max Burey, George Poolman, Reesjan Pasitoa, Sio Tomkinson, Harry Potter, Mac Grealy

Replacements: Ryan Coxon, Nic Dolly, Atu Moli, Sam Carter, Josh Thompson, Henry Robertson, Coby Miln, Divad Palu

[Tazzmania]

Five Wallabies ruled out as Force prepare to "test depth" against Crusaders

Western Force coach Simon Cron is bullish about his side’s prospects in Christchurch this weekend despite losing five of his top Wallabies for Saturday’s clash.

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[palitu]

oof, they are some big names to be left in perth!

Not to mention no Crisby.

A big in is Kane! welcome back to professional rugby - great work toughing out the ban!

[Sheikh]

Cron might have some interesting selection issues if IFL & Burey lead us to a win (we did win last year!)

Nice to see KK back, and whilst we might have lost 5 Wallabies, I see that starting XV as being pretty strong:

KK & Prinsep have high work-rates to make up for Tizzano & NCDC
IFL for White is a different style of play
Burey for Donaldson - may lose something through Donno's kicking, but Burey is pretty good
Poolman for Pietsch loses a bit there, but last year's experience being thrown into the deep end has improved Poolman
Tomkinson for Stewart and Pasitoa moving to 12, we lose Stewart's defensive work and calm play, but that's a fairly bruising pair of centres themselves.

The forward reserves are handy, and the only issue I have is with the experience of the reserve backs

[The InnFORCEr]

Force $11.50 to win

[GIGS20]

I think there's a bit of Wallaby-management and travel-mindedness going on.

Hopefully we do it better than Larko

[Garry Owen]

Yes does anyone know the actual rules with how many games the wallabies are allowed to play, I am guessing Cron has decided this is a good game for them to miss, unfortunately that means it will probably end up being a massacre

[Tazzmania]

According to The Roar

"With Wallabies rest protocols in place dictating that players of national interest can’t play seven straight games."

Which means a possible two match sit out for the season.

Crusaders away from home not a bad choice, and I suspect the next will be the Blues away as well.

Potter likley out next week (if under the protocols as he was late inclusion last year) , so hopefully Pietsch is good to go for that one. BPA missed the first match so may be one of the next two.

[brokendown gunfighter]

I think we are in for a bit of bother!

[chiraag]

Hmmmm....not liking the sound of this: the Force will be without star winger Dylan Pietsch (knee) after sustaining an MCL injury

Any word on how serious the injury is and how long he might be out for?
Would've liked Leahy to get a run given all the outs. Could see him leaving us like O'Donnell if he doesn't get any opportunities.

Looking forward to seeing Kane back, ripping it up, Reesjan at inside centre and Issak starting. Actually a decent looking team considering who's out and being rested. Unfortunately coming up against a strong looking Crusaders team, but you never know....!

I see Damon is officiating, so probably a good call to choose this game to rest our players

[shasta]

This is a cunning plan to lure the Crusaders into an ambush. A lot of outs, yes. But we have better depth to cope this year. The Roar reckons Cron has run up the white flag. I don't think we're totally without hope & I'll have a small snipe @ $13 on Sportsbet.

[bootsetal06]

Great to see Henry Robertson on the bench and Max Burey starting. This is a fantastic opportunity for these guys. Go Force !! Just no aimless kicks to those back three !!

[Bally]

Force $11.50 to win

They have no chance and if it goes horribley wrong all the momentum they had built will be gone.Cant see any positives coming out of this game

[Tazzmania]

I suspect the coaches are looking to build cohesion, so instead of drip feeding the rest period, and breaking the cohesion over a number of weeks they have opted for a batch approach.

They have rested the 9,10,12 combo so that they can keep it in tact when they can play again next week.....

[James]

I think momentum was lost in the Waratahs game. Better to refresh and reset than to wear out key players. We have 3 trips out of Australia- some tactical choices are required.