Force aim to gatecrash rugby finals again

[The InnFORCEr]

Justin Chadwick
February 16, 2022 2:26PM


Western Force coach Tim Sampson is ignoring the naysayers as the club attempts to gatecrash the finals for a second straight season.

The Force broke their 15-year finals drought in 2021 by reaching the play-offs of Super Rugby AU.

The Perth-based franchise missed out on a spot in the grand final after being brushed aside 21-9 by the Brumbies in Canberra, but the breakthrough finals appearance has left the side feeling confident of a repeat in 2022.

Most fans and betting markets disagree though with the Force widely tipped to finish near the foot of the 12-team table.

The top eight teams will qualify for finals and Sampson is determined to lead his team there.

"I don't know how they (betting markets) come up with that to be honest. That doesn't faze us one bit," Sampson said ahead of Sunday's season-opener against the Brumbies in Canberra.

"Last year's squad created their own little piece of history there and it was a great achievement from the club, and we move on to bigger and better things this year.

"We want to play finals rugby again and we know that there's a lot of hard work and effort that goes into making finals."

The Force have lost a wealth of experience from last season with Irish legend Rob Kearney, Tevita Kuridrani, Kieran Longbottom, Tomas Cubelli and Marcel Brache among the departures.

The arrival of Wallaby Izack Rodda was a major coup while Sampson also recruited former Brumbies quartet Issak Fines, Bayley Kuenzle, Reesjan Pasitoa and Reece Tapine.

Fines will start on the bench against the Brumbies after Ian Prior was handed the starting scrumhalf role, but Sampson is expecting big things of the 26-year-old.

"He's been ready to go for a couple of years," Sampson said.

"Now is his time. I'm expecting a fantastic year from Finesy.

"I genuinely think he can be pushing for claims of higher honours."

https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/ru...gain-c-5720133

[GIGS20]

Way to make it sound like Sambo is insane for thinking finals is a realistic option without looking deeply at the issue.

The top 3 teams in the aussie conference (for want of a better name) are virtually guaranteed a spot in the finals with the Pasifika unlikely to make the journey out of the NZ teams. It might be even better if one of the Kiwi teams brain farts their way into 9th place (but I accept that is a long shot)

In reality we only have to beat three of the six ie the Tahs, the Rebels and the Drua

The Tahs, we know are talking themselves up after getting the chocolates in trials against second string sides from the Brumbies and the Reds, since we all know their biggest issue is psychological they'll fall apart at the first sign of discomfort and won't feature in the calculations. They're naming Swinton in the team regularly, so expect to see them playing long periods with 14 men.

The Drua are capable and will shock a couple, but they're in their first season and culture takes time to build (I mean Fijian rugby culture is in the blood, so they'll do OK off the bat, but they'll probably struggle with structure for a while)

The Rebels are an unknown quantity, but they haven't made massive changes to their roster from last year and seem to be pinning all their hopes on Carter Gordon, who is touted to be the bloke who held the 10 jersey for the Nazareth saints all those years keeping God's young'un on the bench a 10 is not what the Rebels need to get them out of trouble, they need to field something more than a capable front row and the remainder of their pack either not capable or willing to put in the effort to get hold of the footy.

As for our turnover of players
Kearney was great, but didn't play half the year and wasn't really missed by the time strachan found his feet. Kuridrani did nothing but keep Kyle out of his (IMHO) best position, KBomb was cooked after 10 minutes in every game (love the rocko prop, but the time in England made him unsuited to the speed of the game) Cubelli was a great individual but didn't do a lot to improve the team and Brache was a fantastic club man who played his heart out but only at his best game was good enough to even make the pitch.

I honestly don't believe any of the retirees would hve seen many minutes this year if they had played on.

In contrast, everybody coming in either adds something right now (I'm calling Rodda, Fines and Kuenzle in that bracket) or shows massive potential for the future (Pasitoa, Tapine, Ala etc) Chaddy didn't even mention Mataele and the massive difference a fit Toni Pulu will make.

Honestly, I think that missing the finals would be a real disappointment for this squad because I think we've put a team out for sunday that might have a chance of rolling the Brumbies!

[JSJ]

Honestly, I think that missing the finals would be a real disappointment for this squad because I think we've put a team out for sunday that might have a chance of rolling the Brumbies!

I agree Gigs. Listening Sambo to the RugbyWrap, the coaches this year have put a a lot of focus of being able to finish off a few more opportunities with tries. We had a lot of good close games last year, but just needed an extra try or two.

[GIGS20]

It'd be nice to start with a win over one of the teams who isn't questioned as being a top of the (Aussie) table contender

It's a big ask, but not impossible. There's only 1 new face in the pack since last year and he's been assessed by blokes better than me as the best in his position in the country.

[Alison]

Sorry, who is Justin Chadwick? Never heard of him.

[Sheikh]

Sorry, who is Justin Chadwick? Never heard of him.

AAP journalist based in Perth. Covers multiple sports, and not always just WA-based.

[James]

Chadders has been knocking about for ages. John Mitchell used to give him a hard time about his attire at press conferences.

[Buddha Handy]

It'd be nice to start with a win over one of the teams who isn't questioned as being a top of the (Aussie) table contender

It's a big ask, but not impossible. There's only 1 new face in the pack since last year and he's been assessed by blokes better than me as the best in his position in the country.

Brumbies away is probably the toughest start you can get. On paper they have a very strong squad. I actually think QLD will drop a fair bit this year. They have not added to their squad and no way Oconnor will play as good as he did last year so I reckon we should be aiming for top 2 in aus

[James]

I reckon we do pretty good for depth in a sense. I don't think there are many positions where if we lose a player, there is a really big drop down in their replacement. The Brumbies in AAA and the Reds in TT are pretty dependent on their first choice tightheads. The replacements aren't in the same ball park. Greg Holmes is a tidy back up 3 to have.