Western Force 2007

[Burgs]

With the fixtures established and plenty of matches through post Super 14 and APC to start to make the judgement, how do you feel that the Force will go in 2007?
Any greater than seven will see us in contention for the Semi Finals.
Also remember that at this stage the All Blacks 22 will be absent until our Bye weekend.

The Force Fixtures are:
1 Highlanders, Home
2 Stormers, Away
3 Bulls, Away
4 Cats, Home
5 Waratahs, Away
6 Hurricanes, Home
7 Reds, Home
8 Bye
9 Sharks, Home
10 Crusaders, Away
11 Chiefs, Away
12 Brumbies, Away
13 Cheetahs, Home
14 Blues, Home

[Shaun]

I'm saying 6 games; but I would love to be proved wrong

[felixnelson]

Id tip the force against:
Highlanders
Stormers
Cats
Reds
Sharks
Brumbies
Cheetahs
Blues
Thus why i voted for 8 wins.

[chook]

hey,

I think they will beat highlanders, cats and reds (home games), I'm hoping that by underpromising they will overdeliver.

Cheers
chook

[The Lone Hydrangea]

5 for me.
Highlanders
Cats
Reds
Sharks
Cheetahs or Spears

and a smokie, the Blues.(we owe them a hiding from this season)
Plus to show our fierce competetiveness in all other games. 5 wins id be rapt, anymore would be awesome and make other punters sweat a little.

[Mtbeaver]

i gave them a six... i think

[Sagerian]

I think at best they can get to 7.

[Darren]

I'm thinking 6 to 8 - all the home games ('cept perhaps the 'canes) plus Stormers and / or the Blues. Have voted 6 ...

[tdevil]

I agree with Coach (6-8 ), but Cats might not play next year if the Spears can get a team together in time.
Spears won the court battle, but don't have a team....Idiots

[LarryNJ]

4-3 @ home 1-5 on the road. 5 wins.

Looks like a good thing for Gerry to put some early odds on!

[Burgs]

For me I am pretty optimistic and have gone for nine although perhaps mine is more how many they "can" win than how many they "will" win....

1 Highlanders, Home. Without their All Blacks we should cover them at Home.

Either one of 2 Stormers, Away OR 3 Bulls, Away. More optimistic for the Stormers match of the two.

4 Cats, Home. Cats comfortably or Spears in a walk over.

6 Hurricanes, Home. Still no All Blacks and mainly as it is on our turf.

7 Reds, Home. Time to square up for our first "one that got away" in '06. Our Qld A will carve their Qld B thanks Eddie!

9 Sharks, Home. Another to pencil in as a Home Game.

11 Chiefs, Away. My least confident tip, but still hopeful in a very unusual year for NZ Rugby.

13 Cheetahs, Home. They are ours.

14 Blues, Home. Right you mongrels, you're in our world now!

[Sagerian]

Highlanders, Home - Opening game jitters and lack of cohesion from both teams expected. Force to win the battle of the penalty kicks.
Result: Win 4p

Stormers, Away - One of the "chocolate teams" (I.E. You never know what you're gonna get), could go either way. This early in the season the Force might well get up.
Result: Win 4p

Bulls, Away - I think there's a good chance for an upset here, but I'm pencilling in a Loss (mainly cos I can't see the Force winning the first 4 games of the season).
Result: Loss 0p +1 BP

Cats, Home Cats/Spears, Force should beat either.
Result: Win 4p +1 BP

Waratahs, Away - All bias aside, the Tahs are a very tough side to beat at home. Tahs to win.
Result: Loss 0p

Hurricanes, Home - Canes should get up pretty easily in this one. Though if they happen to be doing it without Tana, might be a close one.
Result: Loss 0p

Reds, Home - Force to carve up.
Result: Win 4p

Bye - This one will be a war of attrition as the Force battle it out against sleep-ins, cafe lattes and hair stylists. Could go either way.
Result: Bizzare hair styles, no one wins... 0p

Sharks, Home - Yet another box of chocolate team, but found some real consistancy towards the end of the season, Sharks might just pip this one.
Result: Loss 0p +1 BP

Crusaders, Away - Just in time for the likes of Carter, McCaw and co to return, they're be fresh, fired up but also possibly rusty. Still, the Crusaders will surely prove too strong.
Result: Loss 0p

Chiefs, Away - The Chiefs are one of those teams that can fire up and beat anyone for no particular reason. Chiefs should win this one.
Result: Loss 0p

Brumbies, Away - Another team that's tough to beat at home, although this game is occuring late enough in the season to assume Larkham and/or Gregan and/or Mortlock will be injured/rested.
Result: Loss 0p

Cheetahs, Home - Cheetahs to play their usual boring game, Force to put it away in the last 20.
Result: Win 4p

Blues, Home - This one I'm unsure of, if the Blues have even a sniff of reaching the semis, you can be sure they will win very comfortably. However I think they'll be out of the running so the Force will need to get about 27 points to win this one.
Result: Win 4p


Sage's luke-warm tip... 23 points, probably end up around 9th.

[James]

Being somewhat optimistic I'm going with 7. Highlanders, Stormers, Cats, Hurricanes (assuming conditioning goes ahead where they lose 75% of their forward pack talent), Reds, Sharks, Cheetahs. But then again I thought the Force would do better than last in 2006 (not that I am disappointed).

If they get rolling though I think the Blues/Brumbies/Bulls are all *possible* wins. They'll knock it up a notch. Bam!

[Sagerian]

Sigh, one from 3 so far... Had them for 2 wins out of 3 games to start at least.

[GIGS20]

And no one really tipped the bulls (admittedly there were a couple of possibles, but nothing firm)
I think I'm still on track for the six I said, but they're different teams than I'd originally thought. Tipped the Highlanders, but not the bulls. I think the Lions will be pretty easy but Sharks might be tough considering how they're looking at the moment, and the Cheetahs have certainly undergone a personality adjustment haven't they?