Force Blow Sharks Out of Water

[Darren]

In what has been the most physically demanding and toughest pre-season trial phase since the club’s inception, the Emirates Western Force has turned in a confidence boosting 26-0 win against the Sharks at Newlands Stadium.

Tries to Sam Wykes, Ryan Cross and Cameron Shepherd in the opening half set up the win for the Emirates Western Force while a great run in the final minute by James O’Connor capped off a terrific performance.

The defensive effort against a physical Sharks side was particularly impressive with contributions across the board repelling any attacks the South African’s could muster. Even a yellow card in the second half which left the visitors a man short for 10 minutes couldn’t disrupt their strong line.

While Coach John Mitchell was happy to register the win it was the response from the playing group to rectify areas that fell short in their opening loss of the tri-series last Saturday night that pleased him the most.

“Over the few days since the last game we looked to get some growth in our physical methods and habits and we improved in that tonight. As a result we were able to get a little bit more momentum and dominate the game,” Mitchell said.

The Force run on side took on a whole new look with 12 different players coming into the starting XV. Experienced campaigners Nathan Sharpe, Ryan Cross, Brett Sheehan and Andre Pretorius, just to name a few, made their first start of 2010 and worked well in their on-field connection.

For Sharpe it was another big step in his return from off-season shoulder surgery and the skipper was delighted to get through the full 80 minutes. His efforts in the line-outs seizing momentum for the visitors from the set-piece.

“It was good to be back in the saddle, I’ve had a few months out after shoulder surgery so I’m really enjoying my football,” Sharpe said following the game.

“Our organization was much better tonight and if you’re well organized then that allows you to become more physical in the tackle. We created a lot of turnovers and played with some good width at times.

“It certainly is very encouraging for us. I think that first half against the Stormers was a real eye opener for us and we took a lot out of that. They brought a lot of intensity into that game and we learnt and replicated that in own performance tonight.

“It was a quality Sharks outfit across the board. They’re a strong team and we got a quality hit-out. That’s exactly what we wanted to achieve in this trip to South Africa.”

Mitchell echoing the sentiments of his Captain and reiterating the value of the Neo Africa Tri-series to the Emirates Western Force pre-season build-up.

“It’s a new group this season for us. People perhaps don’t appreciate that when you bring 12 new players into the system it takes time to get continuity. Already we can see some uniformity starting to show which is pleasing,” said Mitchell.

“This has been the toughest pre-season trial period we’ve had. The learning from the Stormers performance is huge for a lot our younger guys. For them to experience this kind of environment has been invaluable.

“Life is about experience and experiences and you’ve got to learn quickly. You also have to learn quickly in rugby so this opportunity has been very beneficial for everyone at the club,” Mitchell said.

The Emirates Western Force will depart South Africa on Wednesday and return to Perth the following day where they will continue their preparations ahead of the new season. Their next match will be a trial against the Queensland Reds at ME Bank Stadium on Friday, 5 February 2010.

No injuries to Emirates Western Force players were sustained in the match against the Sharks.


Neo Africa Tri-series – Match 2
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 at Newlands, Cape Town

Sharks 0
Emirates Western Force 26

Tries: Sam Wykes (6min), Ryan Cross (20min), Cameron Shepherd (30min), James O’Connor (79min)
Conversions: Andre Pretorius (2), James O’Connor (1)

Emirates Western Force XV: 15.James O’Connor, 14.Dane Haylett-Petty, 13.Ryan Cross, 12.Sam Harris, 11.Cameron Shepherd, 10.Andre Pretorius, 9.Brett Sheehan, 8.Richard Brown, 7.David Pocock, 6.Matt Hodgson, 5.Nathan Sharpe, 4.Sam Wykes, 3.Matt Dunning, 2.Ryan Tyrrell, 1.Kieran Longbottom

Substitutes: 16.Ben Whittaker, 17.Nic Henderson, 18.Tom Hockings, 19.Ben McCalman, 20.Chris O’Young, 21.Mitch Inman, 22.Mark Bartholomeusz, 23.Mark Swanepoel, 24.Josh Tatupu, 25.Joelin Rapana, 26.Tim Fairbrother, 28.Richard Stanford

By the clock: (*score – Sharks mentioned first)
6min: Try to the Emirates Western Force by Sam Wykes. Not converted by Andre Pretorius. (0-5)
20min: Try to the Emirates Western Force by Ryan Cross. Converted by Andre Pretorius. (0-12)
30min: Try to the Emirates Western Force by Cameron Shepherd. Converted by Andre Pretorius. (0-19)
HALF TIME: Sharks 0– 19 Emirates Western Force
79min: Try to the Emirates Western Force by James O’Connor. Converted by Andre Pretorius. (0-26)

Replacements –
40min: Nic Henderson replaces Kieran Longbottom
49min: Nic Henderson Yellow Card & Kieran Longbottom replaces Richard Brown
59min: Nic Henderson returns & Richard Brown replace Kieran Longbottom
59min: Mark Bartholomeusz replaces Andre Pretorius
62min: Josh Tatupu replaces Dane Haylett-Petty
62min: Tom Hockings replaces Sam Wykes
62min: Tim Fairbrother replaces Matt Dunning
63min: Mitch Inman replaces Mark Bartholomeusz (Blood rule)
65min: Chris O’Young replaces Brett Sheehan
65min: Ben McCalman replaces Matt Hodgson
72min: Mark Bartholomeusz replaces Cameron Shepherd

[RugbyWA]

In what has been the most physically demanding and toughest pre-season trial phase since the club?s inception, the Emirates Western Force has turned in a confidence boosting 26-0 win against the Sharks at Newlands Stadium.

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[travelling_gerry]

From reading the SA forums totally dominated the scrums and had the Sharks going backwards on 11 occasions. Even for a 7 man scrum during the yellow card the won a tight head.

[oxleymoron]

From what I can interpret looking at the subs, it looks like both Bartz and Harris spent time at 10 during the second half after Andre was substituted.

[Thequeerone]

: ::

[slomo]

building nicely towards the brumbies in game one...
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[zimeric]

Nice strong performance from what could be the run on side in round one...
Cross apparently had a blinder as did Sheps but the biggest "surprise" to my sharks mates was the dominance of the Scrum... The Sharks outfit only had 3 big names missing from their scrum but they were shoved off the ball at least three times and once with the force scrum a man down... Apparently Sharpe was clinical in the lineout.
The Sharks were undone by poor scrummaging and poor tactical kicking which allowed us to apply pressure, Terblanche was the pick of the Sharks as he kept going and going and was really the only one putting in a strong defensive effort.
It was only on the injection of Smith, Duplessis and Muller that things evened up a bit....

Again we shouldnt take too much into the score line as its clear the Sharks did the same thing as the Force did in their first game and that was to blood their youngsters.. still Sharpe seems enthusiastic and its good to see Sheps get a good run as well!....

cant wait for rnd 1 now!!!

[Burgs]

I think if I'm going to disregard last matches scoreline then the same applies here.
We shouldn't be getting too carried away though it will be great for the teams confidence coming home with a win, possibly unexpected after the first match.
For mine is the account of our defence and the talk of the scrummaging, two aspects that seasons are won and lost on.
Also pleasing to hear about Andre as well as Sharpey running out 80mins.
Should be a cracker performance next weekend.

[robyn <3]

Oh Yeah! ... try from prop Sam Sykes? Gee!

[James]

Beating Beast/Burden/J du Plessis in the scrums is a really good sign. Sure John Smit and Bismarck du Plessis will come back but I reckon Jannie is a better scrummager than Smit. Well done front row.

I think if I'm going to disregard last matches scoreline then the same applies here.
We shouldn't be getting too carried away though it will be great for the teams confidence coming home with a win, possibly unexpected after the first match.
For mine is the account of our defence and the talk of the scrummaging, two aspects that seasons are won and lost on.
Also pleasing to hear about Andre as well as Sharpey running out 80mins.
Should be a cracker performance next weekend.

Thats the beauty of last night's scoreline. It means we can totally forget about the Stormers game.

[Ecky]

Like Burgs says - it's a pre-season trial.

That may have been close to the 1st XV for , but who is to say the Sharks weren't doing a bit of experimenting in preparation for the season ahead?

A good hit-out, but let's just treat it as a practice match whose result means nought.

[James]

Thats what I mean If last night's scoreline was meaningless so was the Stormers game which is great because 54-12 is pretty hard to swallow.

[Thequeerone]

Positives:
NO INJURIES - Sharpie's shoulder and Cam's ankle - a bruising encounter was reported.

Longbottom seems to have come of age
Lots and lots of combinations tried in both matches
None of the senior leadership group was present in the 1st 60 mins of the Stormers group - now that was an interesting ploy - hopefully lessons were learnt.
Wykes has developed a nose for the line - useful - very useful.

Reports seem to indicate that we have a functioning scrum and a functioning backline - which we didn't have last year.

After the lacklustre backend of last season - the report that the team is actually playing together effectively and the match report is not JOC this and JOC that is a win.

A win is a win - psychologically the team must be bolstered by it - gives promise for the season ahead - I'll unrepentant about enjoying the moment.

[todd4]

A real concern at this time of year while players are finding their fitness is injuries. It seems the Force have come out of a real bruising affair without injury - that makes it double good news!

[GIGS20]

It was the Sharks first hit out wasn't it. I'd say it's very probable that they did exactly what we did in the first game......scores mean nothing, but anecdotes do, It's pleasing to hear we were strong in the set piece (both scrum and lineout apparently) because regardless of the 'commitment to running rugby' there'll be a lot of that this year anyway.

Good to hear we kept them from crossing the line, in a trial most teams will ignore a kickable penalty to take the line on, I guess it wouldn't have been scoreless if it was a real game, but we certainly had the wood on them defensively, and no matter what anybody says if you don't score....even in a trial....it means something. They would've been trying everything they had to get across the line, that's what the experience is all about.

Quietly pleased!