Western Force demolish the Lions: 55-14

[pieter blackie]

Eight-try Force crush sad Lions

(I copied the best parts of the article and added some comments)

The Western Force scored eight tries in crushing a disintegrating Auto & General Lions side 55-14 in their Vodacom Super 14 match in Perth on Friday.

The Lions had problems in the front row, lost too many of their own lineouts, spilled the ball in contact and missed tackles. Some of the tactical kicking was on the same level. This was the result of a committed effort by the force forward pack applying so much pressure to the lions forward pack and playmakers fumbled on more than one occasion

The team that had looked so good in beating the Red the previous week was nowhere to be seen.

Even if the Lions often made their opponents look good, the Force showed why they had beaten all the other Australian sides in a rare clean sweep this year.

Their performance may also be a pointer to the strategy that the Wallabies could adopt in the Tri-Nations later in the season. and hopefully this will convince the likes of JOC and others that haven't signed with the Force yet that a John Mitchell driven Force will be unstoppable next year

An all-capped backline, conducted by maestro Giteau, attacked at pace, created space, handled well enough and exposed an unorganised Lions defence. I hope that Gits knows that it will not be that easy next year

In addition to the tries they scored, they came close to scoring on four other occasions.

the full article here: Eight-try Force crush sad Lions

[travelling_gerry]

[travelling_gerry]

Article from: PerthNow
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/stor...005401,00.html

Nick Taylor, rugby writer

April 23, 2009 10:00pm
Where has this Western Force been hiding?

There had been signs all season they would finally click.

But tonight, as the Force tore through the Lions with a 55-14 win, the side said goodbye to the sometimes stuttering waywardness and renown recklessness.

The crowd - sadly only 15,801 - could hardly believe what it was seeing as the Force clinically shredded the Lions.

They were left with both a feel-good factor and the question of whether it would be enough for an elusive finals spot.

The Force went into the game knowing that only a bonus point win would keep them in with any chance of making the finals and they had that before half time.

They had been warning all week that the Lions were capable of running in tries from anywhere on the park. And while the Lions were willing, it was the home side that was able, once again playing enterprising football.

The Force backline showed its pure class while the pack gave the Lions a torrid time up front.

And, on the odd occasion when necessary, showed why its defence has gained respect this year.

Tries from Drew Mitchell, Matt Giteau, James O'Connor, AJ Whalley, two from Cameron Shepherd, and two penalty tries helped produce the highest ever Force score and the biggest ever winning margin.

The previous were 45 points scored against the Cheetahs two years ago and a 35 winning margin against the Reds in the same season.

It would have been higher if Shepherd had not been denied his second hat trick of the season by a dodgy decision from video referee George Ayoub who somehow found his foot in touch.

The Force could not have asked for a better start and it had to be - the departing Mitchell scoring a try after just 60 seconds in his penultimate home game.

James O'Connor showed why the Force is desperate to keep him with a scintillating break and pass to Ryan Cross who thrust hard and put a neat inside pass to Mitchell. Giteau converted.

Not to be outdone or outshone Giteau decided to show why the Force was desperate to keep him: a neat step leaving two defenders grasping thin air and he was through for a try under the posts.

He converted his own five pointer.

A penalty try, when Lions captain Ernst Joubert brought down Scott Staniforth and went to the sin bin for his troubles and Giteau converting, pushed the Force out to a 21-point lead on 25 minutes.
Giteau then added a penalty.

Lions winger Jannie Boshoff finished a neat move from the scrum base to open his side's account four minutes from time. Andre Pretorius converted.

But the Force was not finished and remarkably picked up the bonus try with a fourth try seconds before the break when Shepherd finished off yet another long range effort.

Unconverted.

The try procession continued after the break, swift hands again saw Shepherd in full flight for his second, unconverted, then even better handling had O'Connor going over in the corner. Giteau converted.

Prop AJ crossed for a five pointer with his first touch, Giteau converting, before Earl Rose grabbed a second consolation try with 12 minutes left. Pretorius converted.

The second penalty try was awarded when O'Connor was held back by US international flanker Todd Clever after Giteau charged down a kick over the try line. He converted.

As the Force moved into fifth place overnight, coach John Mitchell said: "It was a real pleasing performance. We started well and stuck to our task.

"There's been patches at times that have hurt us through the year and undone us.

"The guys really put together a solid performance.

"We were always a little bit concerned that if we didn't retain ball or be precise we could cost ourselves a lot of metres.

"It's an intriguing competition. We're still alive but we're taking one week at a time."


http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/stor...005401,00.html

[henry]

Every kick Mitchell made was dropped cold by the Lions trying to catch them...
Pretty funny watching

[jono]

so, now we know why drew has been kicking it to the man all season.
while it was effective last night, it's a pity it took him 11 weeks to get it right...

[jargan83]

yeah because kicking it to the back 3 on the full always works........

[robyn <3]

How funny was it when Drew ran into the freaking pole! I was dying of laughter and Dad goes 'Robyn, that's DREW that ran into the pole'. He thought I'd stop laughing because of that!

Fantastic result. The lions didn't go out there to win, they went out to spoil and I thought while it wasn't terribly nice we kicked their ares's so thats ok. But 2 penalty tries in one games is a little extreme I think. Not complaining, since they are both ours, but they should have been scored by players not by the Lions dirty tactics.

AJ's try was the best! Loved it. He just RAN!

I agree Slomo JOC should have been kicking in the second half.


FA you and I had words with that evil 21. I think he'll leave JOC alone from now on!

I really love how this week with all the crap that's been churning out about us and with Drew and Harris leaving and us supposedly folding that we can turn around and produce a result like that. Regardless of our supposed huge player exodus, financial state, CEO resigning, we managed to forget it all and go out and play rugby against a team who's aim was to be spoilers and played some lovely rugby. Damn proud I am

[henry]

Drew running into the post was funny...

[laura]

sorry blokes, sheps was not a try, his foot was clearly ( well not clearly in real time) out. So, no try.

Sheps was in...

[hertryk]

Woohoo!! What a game! So fantastic to win like this - really put on a great show for the crowd, even if they did run out of fireworks for the last few tries

I didn't quite catch the Stanford/Boof incident, was it a head clash? Didn't look too bad on the replay, but couldn't see very clearly from where we were seated.

I agree with everyone..wish I could have been there to watch it..I am in Darwin, and someone in the restaurant complained about the noise I was making, and then complained about having the Rugby on instead of AFL....PLONKER
Well Done boys...!!! Just awesome...

[pieter blackie]

Drew running into the post was funny...

could have caused a very serious injury

[henry]

lucky it didn't, he had a laugh about it

[gustafsl]

I didn't quite catch the Stanford/Boof incident, was it a head clash? Didn't look too bad on the replay, but couldn't see very clearly from where we were seated.

Yeah head on head, which isn't a bad result when at first it seemed like Hardy had a neck injury. Hopefully they should both be good for next week.

[es1988]

as much as i lOVE cam Shepherd and wanted him 2 get a hat trick to make him the highest try scorer in the competion i do think that his back foot touched the line

[force addict]

debatable, but the first few replays showed his feet in the air, and the tacklers body part on the line, not sheps' foot. George ayoub has done it again