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They are no tour de Force
Rupert Guinness
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
NSW Rugby chief executive Fraser Neill has rubbished suggestions the Western Force should be rated as a serious Super 14 power, even though they are Australia's top-placed side.
Asked by the Herald yesterday if the Force deserved such recognition, having won two of their first four games in only their second season, Neill said: "No … they have spoken a lot about what they are going to do. Their media campaigns have been excellent. But at the end of the day, they have to establish something."
Neill's blunt disregard for the Force will certainly stir the pot of ill-feeling that has been brewing between the two sides since the Force charged head first into an aggressive recruiting campaign when their 2006 start was announced in 2005.
As the Force were en route from Perth to Sydney last night, where they will play the Waratahs at Aussie Stadium on Friday night, Neill was more than happy to draw his sword.
His fiery mood had been stoked by him reopening a Christmas card he had been sent by his Perth counterpart, Force chief executive Peter O'Meara, and WA Rugby chairman Geoff Stooke, which said: "Looking forward to kicking your ass in '07."
There was also the memory of last year's debut clash, when, after the Waratahs beat the Force 32-7 in Perth, the NSW side had to hire a bus to the after-match reception and pay for their drinks while the Force had a free bar tab.
Friday's match is vital for both sides, but particularly NSW, who had a bye last weekend and are sitting in 11th place with a 1-2 win-loss record. The Force are seventh.
The West Australians will be buoyed by their away record this season, with two wins in South Africa, while the Waratahs won only one from three there.
However, Neill, speaking yesterday at the naming of the Sydney Fleet side to take part in this year's Australian Rugby Championship, almost taunted the invading Force by saying of Friday's derby, which should attract a 30,000-plus crowd: "This game is 135 years of tradition versus one-and-a-half."
Clearly, NSW Rugby officials did not appreciate, nor have they forgotten, the methods employed by the Force to establish their foundation playing roster in mid-2005.
Neill said NSW understood why the WA side had to hotly pursue players but believes certain tactics overstepped the mark - in particular their staging of media conferences in NSW Rugby's Moore Park car park to announce their signings.
"They certainly could have done things a lot better, as I say, by not having press conferences in our car park," Neill said.
"Some of the shots that they fired about things were unwarranted. There is no problem with them being aggressive but it's how you handle yourself."
As for Friday's match, Neill also had a message for those former Waratahs who left the NSW camp to join the Force: Brendan Cannon, Gareth Hardy, Troy Takiari, Matt Hodgson, Cameron Shepherd, Scott Staniforth and Chris O'Young.
"There are a lot of players who are playing for the Force who will be very familiar to people," he said. " … Even to the extent that they held their press conferences in the car park. They will know where to park their car.
"All I'd say [to them] is, 'Welcome back … but just don't turn left when you go down to the changing rooms. Yours is on the right these days."
Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie was more circumspect about the Force at training yesterday, after a sharp 90-minute session at Aussie Stadium. But he could not resist a shot at the Christmas card the Force had sent Neill, saying: "Hopefully, we will be presenting that back to their CEO."
Asked if that meant he would slip it under their change-room door, McKenzie nodded to the scoreboard, then said: "It will be a little more formal than that."
NSW again ran a No.9, No.10, and No.12 combination of Josh Valentine, Kurtley Beale and Daniel Halangahu at training, as well as two back-three options, with Peter Hewat at No.15 and Lote Tuqiri on one wing, with Morgan Turinui or Sam Norton-Knight on the other.
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