Spiro comes Good

Force's successful safari a good lesson

Spiro Zavos
Tuesday, February 20, 2007


ANALYSIS

WINNING is hard for visiting teams in South Africa. The Crusaders came to grief in the Republic this weekend at the hands of the Lions, a team widely regarded as being very weak, even by South African standards. The Highlanders have lost both their games in South Africa, as well. And the Waratahs, after defeating the Lions, have lost their past two matches while trekking around the veldt.

But the Western Force are unbeaten in South Africa, having last weekend defeated the Bulls, one of the country's top two sides, to back up their previous week's win over the Stormers in Cape Town.

Last week, when I incorrectly mentioned the Force had won their first match out of Perth by defeating the Stormers, what seemed like the whole rugby population of Perth sent me emails pointing out the error of my ways.

A typical response is this one from Peter: "You mention that the Force's last weekend win was its first on the road. As a briefly suffering supporter I can tell you they actually haven't won at home yet. They drew against the Crusaders at Subiaco last year, which was as close as they came to a win at home. Their only win for the season was against the Cheetahs in Kimberley, after drawing with the Cats the previous week at Jo' burg. In fact, the only stat a Force supporter can mention in public is a reasonable record in South Africa."

Emails like that alerted me to the fine unbeaten record of the Force in the Republic.

So what is their secret? Part of it must be that South African sides underestimate the Force. The Bulls had a number of easy penalty shots at goal towards the end of the match against the Force. Each time Victor Matfield, the Bulls captain, rejected kicking the penalty. Each time, though, the five-metre lineout drive was repelled.

The Crusaders made the same mistake against the Lions. Both the Bulls and the Crusaders need to know the days of the relatively easy try from a five-metre lineout drive are over.

It is also helpful in South Africa if your goalkicker nails most of his shots. Stephen Brett missed a penalty right in front for the Crusaders early in the match. Peter Hewat missed a couple of crucial shots for the Waratahs against the Cheetahs. But Cameron Shepherd kicked six goals and scored two tries for 25 points against the Bulls. He scored 17 points against the Stormers a week earlier. When one player scores 25 or 17 points, a team is going to win most of its matches.

One of Shepherd's tries was a sensational effort involving a skilful kick-and-chase done at pace. The case of Shepherd, in fact, casts into bold relief the nonsense spouted by the supporters of Lote Tuqiri that he is an indispensable million-dollar man.

Shepherd now has two match-winning performances in South Africa in a row. It is difficult to pinpoint a match Tuqiri has "won" since coming across from league. In the 2003 World Cup he played splendidly in the semi-final and final. But since then his form has been patchy. He has missed tackles on the outside, he hardly makes a break, and he rarely finishes off movements by scoring a try.

The argument is overwhelming that Shepherd is a much better prospect than Tuqiri to lead a revival of the Wallabies (and so is Hewat, incidentally).

The Force now face the Lions in Perth on Saturday. Ironically, winning at home is now their hardest challenge.

flick the bit about hewat at the end and i couldn't agree more with the comments about tuqiri.
congrats coach and all others who emailed spiro. TWF is becoming a real 'force' (s'cuse the pun) off the field to match our teams recent performances!

There's been quite a bit of discussion on this over here fellas, rather than doubling up ;)

http://thewholeforce.com/showthread.php?t=6204


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What's the fascination of Spiro Zavos with Peter Hewat? He was responsible for at least two of the Cheetahs tries against the Tahs on Sat - the first due to a typical attempt at an intercept, rather than staying on the defensive line, and the second by virtually tripping Norton Knight as he moved a way from the player he was meant to cover. Get over it Spiro...