Match Report: Western Force vs Blues

[Jambooi]

You must admire the Force. It sure is a difficult task to remain at the bottom of the log. But hey they are doing their best and are staying right there!

[Patster]

Another week, another display of 'I know ALL the Laws of the Game' & I wish to infulence the outcome of the match.

Come on Vern (Reid), Geoff (Stooke) & others in Senior Management @ TWF, SANZAR connot continue to dish-up such inadequate levels of refereeing & we just sit back & accept it.

You knew, at the game that he was going to have too much of a say in how the contest concluded.

We pay our memberships & go to watch TWF as enertainment. Enertainment is provided by the players fom both teams. Enertainment is not derived from an inept official who is on the field persuing his own self-interests. If there isn't sufficient enertainment coming from the product you pay for, you move on to other forms of enertainment.

Love & Dedication to TWF may be blind, but its not deaf, dumb & stupid as well.

[Jambooi]

I must admit after 5 years going into the 6th year as member of the only decent version of footy I am seriously switching the the most stupid form, AFL, as then I would expect to see a mess. But the way Union is going as far as Force games and a few other Aussie teams are performing then Union as an Aus sport will be fading

A good thing there is an Hockey international coming up later this year. Maybe that will calm me! At least their technique is something to admire.

[BeeJay]

I must admit after 5 years going into the 6th year as member of the only decent version of footy I am seriously switching the the most stupid form, AFL, as then I would expect to see a mess. But the way Union is going as far as Force games and a few other Aussie teams are performing then Union as an Aus sport will be fading

A good thing there is an Hockey international coming up later this year. Maybe that will calm me! At least their technique is something to admire.

Whoa! Jambooi, you have to see the improvement in the way the team has performed, and keep the faith, son! The Force and Aussie rugby need more than fairweather friends. I think the brand of Aussie rugby today is fantastic, including "technique". Just look at the victory against France.

[Hoolly Doolly]

force played way better then i expected.
cummins is a keeper at outside centre.
dunning was great in defense.
great kicking game by sheps
another great game by wykes.
i wasnt too upset by the sealing off penalty at the end....u could see it coming a mile away and i remember the ref pinging the blues a couple times. what im annoyed about was the blues gave away 4 or 5 penalties inside their own 22 in the first half which to me warranted a yellow card and then the penalty he gave the blues before halftime was like a slap in the face.
good to see its not all doom and gloom....just need a bit of luck.

[palitu]

Yes, i was really pissed at the 3 penalties in 3-odd minutes, inside their 22. one was for not retreating 10m after teh quick tap (which must be a cynical foul, ie professional), and then for the advantage to be very short, sohuld have been either a try or 3 points...

second half, he was much much better... though i didn't have my glasses on :/

[Hoolly Doolly]

Just watching the replay now just before halftime. Yes after 3 penalties inside the blues 22(would probably make it 5 or 6 for the first half), the last one was ridiculous as we had scrum feed right in front of the posts and the canes 9 blatantly infringes and shouldve got a yellow. JOC kicks penalty.
Blues restart and sharpey is the receiver but cowen/dunning get done for obstruction even though both were lifting sharpey!! WTF!!! McCalister takes the gifted penalty.
YOU SUCK REF!

[hertryk]

Shep to mark his 50th proposed to his girlfriend after the match on the field..
At least someone was happy after the game..

[Burgs]

I appreciate that there is considerably more emotion involved when you are at the match (and potentially half tanked) but I think a few folks need to have a bit of a quiet lie down before getting too carried away.
Draw's always "draw out" interesting emotions, one oft used quote being "It's a bit like kissing your mother on the lips"....

As James summed up (yet again ) virtually all of us would have taken that result at the start of the 80 minutes and the fact is we were one breakdown, or one missed kick from Brett, from beating one of the contenders and everyone thinking the world was wonderful.

I am absolutely proud of the way the boys stood up after the debacle of last week’s match and injury/suspension toll.
Sure for twenty minutes or so, while I was still safely a long way from my computer, I wanted to kick a quokka, especially with the cheers of two very relieved multi NZ team supporting Kiwis in my ears.
But there were brilliant performances tonight and virtually all of them by the boys wearing blue, not the Blues.

Personally, as a bit of a sucker for those who perform in milestone matches (some crumble) I would have shared the MOM between the two half centurions.
Both had a major impact on our efforts, Brownie at the breakdown, Shep with his kicks and coming into the line respectively.
Sharpie once again made serious metres when it counted, Wykes a second match in a row back to his potential, McCalman and Hodo on fire, JO'C playing like a 30 year old, Pek (apart from the last ruck) brilliant, Cummins making a fairly good fist of #13 (though playing it as a Winger, not a natural. I’ll allow him time don’t worry.), as mentioned the back three working well together, Sheehan playing some very smart Rugby, Fairbanks’ couple of try saving tackles, the list goes on.

One major highlight was watching:
Cowan 35 Super Rugby, 4 Tests
Charles 10 SR
Longbottom 10 SR

Taking it up to and presenting secure ball against:

Woodcock 98 SR, 68 T
Mealamu 109 SR, 79 T
Faumuina 24 SR

Yes, this is a disappointing result, but it came at the end of 80 minutes of the best Rugby we have put together in a couple of seasons and probably the best 79 minutes we have put together in one match in a long time.

[WF1964]

Waiting to hear of injuries - can't afford to be without Dunning AND Fairbrother.

[Sheikh]

A couple of things I remember about last night:

Note to Sharpie: When we're attacking and the ref has just warned the opposition about giving away penalties in their own 22, why kick for goal? Kick for the line and put more pressure on them. The ref's given them a warning - another penalty would mean a card, and we'd still have the chance of 7 points rather than 3.

If the ref isn't sure about giving a try, why not go to the TMO? For the Blues try, the ref wasn't sure and the sidey said something like 'I'm pretty sure it was a try'. So not certain, then. Maybe the ref just didn't want to stand around for another 5 minutes while George watches the try from 5 different angles 20 times before making up his mind (and getting it wrong!)

What was the Blues replacement scrum-half doing at the scrums? Karate? Standing at the back of our scrum and then kicking out at McCalman. He did this at least three times, yet when Sheehan so much as moved round the scrum the ref warned him back.

[slomo]

It you were at the game and were a neutral supporter, you would of loved that game, don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, but we've got to learn how to close games out, 10 points up with 10 mins to go and 3 points up with seconds to go, Sammy wykes did raise his game but we do need poey back asap, David smith looked lively and could be a good signing, I haven't seen the replay of the not given 1st try but it was a few good passages of play involved. What happened to fairbrother, he has listed but didn't start. Does anyone know if Tommy hockings is still around?.....

[Burgs]

Fairbrother did something to his ribs in the warm up.
Hockings I spotted back a few rows in the team suit, either injured (nothing visible) or out of form/favour.

[normie]

I appreciate that there is considerably more emotion involved when you are at the match ...
...Yes, this is a disappointing result, but it came at the end of 80 minutes of the best Rugby we have put together in a couple of seasons and probably the best 79 minutes we have put together in one match in a long time.

Our country member puts it all into perspective.

[hertryk]

Seeing the Sunday times photo today...of Wykes "try" I think the TMO must have been watching a different game.....WT?