0
The Force have slumped to their third loss on the trot, and their second at home. Wearing their one-off 8020 jerseys, the boys in white were outgunned by an enthusiastic Waratahs outfit. A humiliating 31-3 loss all to show for their efforts.
The first 15 minutes of the match were all Waratahs with early line-out dramas keeping the Force pinned within their own half. Kurtley Beale got the Tahs on the scoreboard with a penalty in the 5th minute, having missed an earlier attempt. Things were looking desperate for the Force with Tahs constantly able to make the gain line.
The Force managed to weather the storm and, from winning a scrum on the 50m mark, managed to finally get into the Tah’s 22. The pressure paid off with a penalty gifting the home team 3 points and evened up the scoreboard.
The Force continued the attack from this point with a string of penalties to the home team giving O’Connor another shot at goal, which he unfortunately missed.
Play became pretty scrappy from this point with neither team able to sustain an attack without handling errors. It was the Tahs who broke the spell, however, with a sensational break from a scrum by Luke Burgess as all eyes were on Palu. Burgess gave the ball to Carter who went over for the opening try.
Although the Force almost got a try of their own from a moment of O’Connor brilliance, things went from bad to worse from here. Drew Mitchell dazzled the Force defence with his twinkle toes and crossed for another Waratahs try in the 37th minute. Beale’s conversion was good and the Tahs ended the half with a 14 point lead.
In the second half play descended into the Force/Waratahs games of old in the second half with the game turning into an arm wrestle played in no man’s land; both teams scrapping hard but getting nowhere. A few opportunities try-scoring were afforded, but all were butchered. All until another Force line-out malfunction gifted the Tahs a golden opportunity to attack. The Tahs made no mistake with Kurtley Beale crossing the line a few phases later in the 62nd minute. The successful conversion brought the Tahs out to an unassailable 24-3 lead.
Things, which had already gone from bad to worse, verged on the depressing and the comical. A missed obstruction (not that it really mattered by that point) allowed the Tahs a break down their left hand touch line. The Force backline were again unable to bring down a flying Drew Mitchell, taking the game beyond any doubt.
Despite flogging a dead horse, the Force soldiered on and went hot on attack. Somewhat unsurprisingly in the scheme of the game, a storming run down the Force’s left hand wing fizzled out as lack of support saw the play die with the try line begging.
Insult was added to the Force’s gaping injuries, with the final few minutes seeing David Smith receive a yellow card for punching and Cam Shepherd taking a very hard fall and limping off the field. Both events possibly leaving the Force with less than they came into the game with.
Match Wash-Up
The Good
It is pretty tough to find much good in this one. In the post match interview Richard Graham said the Force were "outclassed right across the field".
I thought the scrum was pretty good. We didn't have the shoving power of the Waratahs, but we did win more scrum penalties than they did. This is a pretty significant contrast to the Force Tahs preseason game over East when we got monstered in the scrum. The only other positive was that, despite being unable to show his skills because he got almost no ball, Ripia made it through a full 80 minutes.
The Bad
Where to start? You could probably write a 100,000 word phD on this one. Probably the most depressing thing was the line-out. This was supposed to be one of our strengths coming into the match. Yet not only did we lose 4 or 5 of our own throws, but we also failed to exert any pressure on the Waratahs own throws. Keeping in with the forwards, it was clear that our one out runners weren't nearly as effective as those of the Tahs. We made the gain line about as often as they didn't. We need a Paluesque wrecking ball. He was hard to contain early on. I don't know how good everyone else's vision is, but I noticed two gaping David Pocock and Matt Hodgson sized holes on the field tonight. We got worked at the breakdown without them. I think there will be another few weeks of pain until those two come back.
If we weren't already fairly numb to it, our inability to sustain or finish off our attacking plays would be a pretty sore point. I am surprised Richard Graham still has any hair left. But then again it has been 7 games and it hasn't got any better over that time. As primarily a skills/attack/backs coach, Graham needs to take a long hard look at what he is trying to do with the team. The players just don't seem to know how or where to run in support, passes are constantly being pushed and we are failing to secure the ball when we do go to ground.
The Ugly
David Smith's yellow for punching wasn't a pretty sight. It could see him spend a week or two on the sidelines and we can't really afford to have any more players out. That tackle on Cam Shepherd was also pretty ugly. Thankfully Shepherd was sitting up fine in the changerooms and Graham reports he should be good for next weekend.
Man of the Match
Luke Burgess was the official man of the match and you will get no arguments here. Burgess relished on the attention paid to Wycliff Palu and Kurtley Beale. His running game was brilliant, especially with the break for the Tahs first try, and he was able to get quick ball out to his backs more often than not. Palu's impact diminished as the game wore on, and he was replaced earlyish in the game, but he was looking very dangerous in the first 15 minutes. Drew Mitchell was another good performer for the Tahs. Both of Mitchell's tries involved beating a number of Force defenders. They didn't make it that hard for him, however.
Hard to really rate a Force man of the match with the little possession we had. Given the way we played, it doesn't seem reasonable to give praise for praise's sake. That said, James O'Connor was a bit of a bright spark. A pity his kicking has been average recently.
Force Match Rating
We weren't competitive. We lost by 28 points. We didn't score any tries. We barely played like a team. Most of the Force fans who went to the game probably medically needed a beer afterwards. It doesn't get a whole lot worse than this. D-.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by GIGS20
