Mitchell disappointed

by: Rick Boyd
Sportal

Western Force coach John Mitchell has expressed his extreme disappointment in his side's inability to show any patience during Saturday night's heartbreaking 25-24 Super 14 loss to the Lions at Subiaco Oval.

After leading the match 18-13 at half-time and looking the better team for the majority of the fourth-round encounter, the Force folded under pressure in the second half, allowing their opposition back into the match, and eventually losing to a last-minute penalty goal to Lions flyhalf Andre Pretorius.

"The performance from us was disappointing and not acceptable," Mitchell said after the match.

"Again we didn't show patience. At times tonight we chose to be individuals and were in a hurry, and that was probably the most disappointing factor coming out of the performance.

"And on attack we didn't look after the ball when we had them under an enormous amount of pressure."

The Force scored two free-flowing tries in the first half and looked likely to go on with it in the second half, but despite having a number of promising build-ups, just didn't display any patience in nailing home those opportunities.

"We just went into our shells a bit too much and started playing half-and-half football," said Force skipper Nathan Sharpe.

"Our execution in the second half was just terrible and we've got no-one to blame but ourselves."

"We just made error after error which just compounded. We let them stay in the game and they are a good side. They like to throw the ball around and they showed tonight that they are a better side than they are given credit for."

It was the second one-point loss for the Force this campaign and extended the team's winless home record to eight games. But Mitchell claimed the expectation of the historic first win at Subiaco Oval was not weighing on the players, and was merely a product of the media.

"It's not a factor at all," Mitchell said.

"If we talk about it within (the team), then it becomes an issue.

"You people (the media) keep talking about that expectation and I guess we've got to stop reading that stuff and get on with what we do know and go about it."

"It is not a hoodoo," affirmed Sharpe. "But it is something we have to do - win here and sooner rather than later, because we have so many fantastic supporters."


Force runs away from home

By Courtney Walsh, The Australian
February 26, 2007

VETERAN hooker Brendan Cannon surprised no one when he said that Western Force could not wait to get to Sydney after its horror home run continued with a 25-24 loss to the Lions on Saturday night.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that Force is a more genuine outfit on the road, when it is not trying to appease its success-starved fans in Perth.

"When we come back to Subiaco, we lose patience and don't treasure the ball as much as we should," Cannon said.

Saturday's error-riddled defeat took Force's record at Subiaco to seven losses and a draw.

While Force coach John Mitchell, captain Nathan Sharpe and million-dollar man Mat Giteau admitted they were embarrassed by the loss to the Lions, they also tried to put a positive spin on the departure for Sydney tomorrow.

Giteau, who fluffed a chance to steal a win by shanking a drop-goal attempt, wrote in The Sunday Times that Force would enter Friday night's match against New South Wales with heads held high, confident the team could reproduce the form it showed in South Africa.

On Force's first-half form against the Lions - and away form in general - that claim has some merit.

Giteau and Matt Henjak, together with man of the match Ryan Cross, were dominant.

Force, which went to half-time with an 18-13 lead, could have had a maiden home win sealed but for two tries being denied for forward passes.

Mitchell will need to work hard at quelling the impatience that was evident in the second half, and which has cost his side both matches at Subiaco this season, if his team is to trouble the Waratahs in Sydney.

Mitchell said in the lead-up to the match against the Lions that Force needed to be more particular with its use of the ball when in scoring positions.

But Force was off the mark in that area, a point acknowledged by Cannon during a spell on the bench during the game.

Mitchell said the error count and indiscipline that cost his side was unacceptable.

"It was disappointing and not acceptable from us," he said.

"Our discipline in tackle contests was put in question by the number of penalties in kickable range.

"I thought we had grown a lot as a group in the last two weeks (but) at times we chose to be an individual."

Force's second-half sloppiness extended to the usually accurate Cameron Shepherd, who entered the match with an almost flawless kicking record but will rue three missed penalties and a conversion attempt.

Force seems certain to regain blindside flanker David Pusey, who missed the loss through injury, for the match against the Waratahs.


Cross provides rare light

By Wayne Smith, The Australian
February 26, 2007

AUSTRALIA coach John Connolly conceded yesterday that the spate of recent losses by Australia's Super 14 clubs provided gloomy news, but he stressed that Wallabies selectors had not overlooked the silver lining in the dark cloud.

The tournament began on an upbeat note for the Australian teams, with the Brumbies, New South Wales and Queensland all winning in the opening round, and Western Force going down to the Highlanders by a point in sauna-like conditions in Perth.

But the news has since been almost uniformly bad, with Australian teams winning only three of the 10 matches in which they were involved - and one of those victories was to the Brumbies in the gruelling, some would say gruesome, round-three derby against the Reds.

"You can't hide from the fact that it's a worry for us," Connolly said of the teams' form.

"You can see a lot of improvement still in the Force, the Brumbies are there or thereabouts, the Reds are struggling to get into a pattern, and the Waratahs have a very important month coming up for them now that they've finally got some home games."

Connolly and fellow selectors Michael O'Connor and Scott Johnson are conferring on a weekly basis to review Australian performances and, while the Wallabies head coach refused to discuss individual players, he said the Super 14 had shown "the way going forward" in a number of positions.

Certainly there were some valuable lessons to have been taken from the weekend's disastrous round, which saw the Brumbies and Force both beaten by a point right on full-time and the Reds comprehensively outplayed by the Blues in Auckland.

Although Force's league recruit, Ryan Cross, still has to learn his lines in attack and defence, his ability to unload in the tackle is certain to have caught the selectors' attention.

Cross is playing outside centre for Force, but his hard running and his handling skills could see him emerge as the answer to the selectors' greatest dilemma: Who to play at inside centre.

Waratahs centre Ben Jacobs also is under consideration, but Mat Giteau remains the leading contender to fill the position.

Nonetheless, the selectors are desperately hoping they will not be forced to close the door on Giteau as a potential halfback, even though George Gregan's return to form for the Brumbies against the Hurricanes in Wellington would have allayed their fears somewhat.

The indications are that Giteau no longer is being considered as a five-eighth.

Although he is a masterly individual player, he is very much like the legendary figure to whom he is so often compared, dual World Cup winner Tim Horan.

Horan was highly competent at five-eighth but not a playmaker who manages a game.

Giteau was unable to deliver the match-winning field goal for Force on Saturday, but it was only when his overall performance was directly compared to that of Lions replacement five-eighth Andre Pretorius that it became clear his skills are better used elsewhere.

Pretorius, who landed a field goal on demand, also displayed better vision and tactical kicking.

Giteau was ever dangerous with ball in hand, but his Lions counterpart was generalship personified.

With New South Wales captain Phil Waugh facing a lengthy injury stint on the sideline, the selectors would have been delighted with the continuing good form of his Brumbies counterpart, George Smith, against the Hurricanes.

And Reds openside flanker David Croft's game against the Blues would have reinforced long-held opinions of him, both the good and the bad.

The good is that no one tries harder.

The bad is that he gives away breakdown penalties on a scale not matched since Owen Finegan bade farewell to the Brumbies three years ago.