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Nick Taylor
The West Australian
Force flattened by Hurricanes
Western Force coach Michael Foley is concerned some players may still be basking in their first round win over reigning Super Rugby champions the Waratahs.
They were given a rugby lesson in Friday night’s 42-13 thumping by the Hurricanes at nib Stadium following the poor loss to the Reds six days earlier.
"One performance can be easily over celebrated and another one be catastrophised. Maybe we've over-celebrated the Waratahs performance," Foley said.
"Maybe we're not being hard on ourselves.
"Perhaps the Waratahs game allowed people to back off a little bit and not chase hard.
"There are some guys like Ben McCalman who has played very well week in, week out and it's no good for us to have guys like that putting that sort of effort in and not being rewarded.
"We all take responsibility. I will never push it on the players. It's me every bit as anybody else in the team.
"These guys will respond....we have no choice."
The Hurricanes showed the importance of taking points on offer in their bonus-point win.
Once they had set a platform, opening up a gulf that made the Force play catch-up rugby, they launched their firepower.
They ran in five tries and notched up their biggest-ever win over the Force.
In contrast, the Force refused three times to take easy points when within striking distance.
Twice they took line-outs and a quick tap but were left pointless on each occasion.
There was an improvement in the set piece from the display against the Reds but it was scant consolation as they lost the physical battle.
Foley said the game hurt.
“It was very disappointing. When we had the ball we gave it to them and had to do double the amount of work.
"We were very loose in our game. We gave them a bit of a leg up at times. You can’t give them easy chances.
"There were times when we had possession and we didn't do anything with it.
"There were times when they had possession, often from our turnovers, the posession they most like and they cut us up."
Foley experimented, bringing full-back Luke Burton into the defensive line when the Hurricanes were attacking and playmaker Zack Holmes made good metres when given the rare opportunity to run.
However, when the Force used their backs they tended to kick once it reached the end of the line, a dangerous ploy against the visitors who were always threatening from broken field play.
They were also flat when taking the ball and were too unstructured.
The Force defence was often passive. Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd had concentrated on his side’s defence in pre-season and it showed.
Attack was something he claimed they were still working on but they managed to score plenty of points. He even thought his side left another three tries on the pitch.
The result stretched the Force’s poor results against the Hurricanes.
They have now lost the past seven games and eight of the nine previous encounters against the New Zealand franchise.
Their only victory against the Hurricanes was at home in 2007.
The Force opened the scoring with a Holmes penalty but the Hurricanes turned on the pace for their first try with winger Cory Jane crossing after 10 minutes. Second-rower Mark Abbott smashed his way over for the Hurricanes’ second 15 minutes later.
Burton brought the Force to within nine points with his penalty cancelling out one by Beauden Barrett before the break.
In the second period the Hurricanes let loose and added another 27 points, including three more tries to Victor Vito, Julian Savea and James Marshall.
They converted four and kicked three penalties.
Winger Mitch Scott scored a Force consolation try converted by Burton.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...-wake-up-call/
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