Force coach slams Rugby travel schedule

[jargan83]

JUSTIN CHADWICK
May 25, 2014, 8:30 am

Western Force coach Michael Foley is angry - and even the lure of more frequent flyer points won't soothe the situation.

Foley has slammed the Super Rugby scheduling that will force his side to play in three different countries inside the space of 14 days.

That stretch started on May 17 when the Force lost to the Stormers in Cape Town.

The Force managed to overcome jet lag to beat the Lions 29-19 in Perth a week later, but they now have just six days to recover before taking on the Crusaders in Christchurch next Friday.

With the Force sitting in fourth spot on the table, their match against the third-placed Crusaders looms as one of the most crucial battles of the season.

"It's massive, and made more difficult by the way it's been scheduled with the six-day turnaround," Foley said.

"We travelled from South Africa to Perth, the blokes were under enormous stress to play, and now they are put under further stress by having to fly to New Zealand on Monday on a six-day turnaround.

"Our guys will front up, because they'll always front up. But the scheduling is not the best."

More here: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...avel-schedule/

[Hoolly Doolly]

Its a bit late to push the issue now. I think he had a grumble about it at the start of the season as well.

[shasta]

Don't think he was really. They are just quotes from yesterday's presser in response to questions.

[Alison]

Now they are at the top of the table rather than "wooden spooners" maybe they will have more clout and people will listen? They really should raise it every chance they have.

[jono]

Still a valid point, it's not too hard to schedule our 2 NZ games a year back to back.
I realise we're the best stopover for the start or end of a South African tour, but it's stupid we have to go to NZ twice.

[jargan83]

Yeah it won't do much this season but to get it out there now will hopefully mean it doesn't happen again.

Absolutely ridiculous situation that sees us travel 15,000km in 3 weeks as well as a short turn around to play the Crusaders. Like Jono said, it shouldn't be that hard to schedule back to back games for us in NZ given the distance travelled for the Force.

[jono]

I think we're getting punished for the first 6 rounds last year being away

[valzc]

What was the crowd number last night? Seemed very light on due to weather no doubt although we were pretty lucky in the end. On another note, had friends who wanted to come to the game but couldn't get seats near us as it turned out there were plenty of empty seats about. It's a pity if people aren't going to use their membership tickets/seats for the night and know enough time in advance they could be used by someone else. In fact you could probably have bought the cheapest ticket going and sat anywhere last night!

[BeeJay]

The other thing is that teams usually get us on the way to, or on the way from, South Africa. So the travel is less for all our visiting teams.

It's also why I am not particularly fond of tests against the Springboks here at Subi - a grand spectacle, don't get me wrong - but less travel for them, travel across the country for us, lots of support for them, and a ground as unfamiliar to the Wallabies as it is to the Boks.

[Tonkar]

As mentioned by some of you other teams have the same games 2 in SA then a perth stop then back to NZ for a game with a team that has not travelled so I think is all even the only thing I think is wrong is we do 2 trips to NZ... Look back to 2011 i think it was when Saders travelled for every game and turned up in Finals..... They even did a northern Hemispere game ...

I think the Force are going so well they should combat this minor issuse and I dont want us seen as Horwills of Super rugby

[Alison]

Think it was around 10K Val

[UNCLE BOOG]

What was the crowd number last night? Seemed very light on due to weather no doubt although we were pretty lucky in the end. On another note, had friends who wanted to come to the game but couldn't get seats near us as it turned out there were plenty of empty seats about. It's a pity if people aren't going to use their membership tickets/seats for the night and know enough time in advance they could be used by someone else. In fact you could probably have bought the cheapest ticket going and sat anywhere last night!

Shed was nice and busy!

[beige]

11,587

[WARHORSE]

It's no different to what the Sith Efricans have to do.
Enjoy the in-flight entertainment, the five star hotels and the 5 star totty
It must be a real biatch

[chibi]

Still a valid point, it's not too hard to schedule our 2 NZ games a year back to back.

Yeah a 2-game NZ tour would be a great idea, as a matter of fact, it would be a clever money-making idea for the Force to organise tour packages for both the South African and NZ tours for the fans. They could make a big deal of it at the ground for home-games and turn it into an annual ritual for Force-fans. Could get a section of the ground booked out for our away fans who make the trip. Fully organised packages, I'm sure they could cut a deal with travel agents and ticketing vendors.