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(Nice words from the Crusaders website- Ed)
February 2, 2008
They might have won only eight matches from 26 over the first two years, but the Emirates Western Force who the Crusaders play in Melbourne tonight have already shown in their initial steps that a serious Super rugby player has emerged on Australia’s western seaboard.
Former All Black coach John Mitchell has quickly moulded the group of players assembled by Rugby Western Australia into a reflection of his personality: uncompromising, totally committed and always very direct!
It’s a character that sits well with the Force recruits, who built on a promising maiden season with some excellent results last term where the side went into the final weekend still maintaining an outside hope of a semi-final finish.
While the playoffs were not to be, the Force players begin their third season armed with the knowledge that they are on the right track, and boast a realistic title claim if further improvement can be achieved.
Tonight’s pre-season shake down against a Crusaders outfit full of All Blacks offers Mitchell and his men an invaluable opportunity to further gauge their progress prior to competition kick off.
It also provides a chance to exorcise arguably the biggest demon of the last campaign: the calamitous 0-53 loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch on an evening where practically everything that could have gone wrong did!
That result notwithstanding, one of the most notable aspects of the Force’s second season was its wins over both competition finalists – the Bulls and Sharks.
Even more significantly, the 30-27 success over the Bulls was inflicted on the eventual champions at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria – the South Africans’ only home defeat of the campaign.
The Western Australians also toppled the Stormers at Cape Town during their week-long South African visit, with the significance of the achievement in the Republic only really becoming clear later on, when other visiting teams struggled.
To put the Force’s South African expedition in perspective, the five New Zealand teams collectively played 14 matches in the Republic last year, for just the win gathered by tonight’s opponent the Crusaders, against the Cheetahs at Bloemfontein.
In Perth, the Force was almost as dominant against South African teams, eclipsing the Sharks and Cheetahs, while the match to the Lions was lost in a desperate finish by a point.
It was one of four frantic finishes that cost the Force dearly once the round robin phase of the tournament was done.
As well as the 24-25 defeat by the Lions, the Western Australians were edged 8-7 at home by the Highlanders and 14-12 in Canberra, thanks to a late ACT Brumbies penalty goal.
Their first visit to Sydney also ended in frustration, with the points dropped in the 16-16 draw with New South Wales ultimately burning the seventh-placed Force more than it did the 13th-placed Waratahs.
Still, given that the Force only came into being as an entity three years ago, RugbyWA bosses would have to be happy that the side has proved so competitive so quickly.
Importantly the side has built on the learnings gathered in year one, where the Western Force led at halftime on five occasions in matches, but only emerged ultimately victorious once.
Prior to the advent of the Force, Western Australia was an Australian Rules heartland and rugby rarely cracked a mention in the daily newspaper.
Within months of professional rugby’s arrival in the west, the Force boasted Australia’s biggest Super 14 membership and more hits on its website (at one stage) than the Fremantle Dockers!
A crowd of 37,000 jammed into Subiaco Oval for the side’s debut against the Brumbies, and the healthy level of public support has continued – the average crowd for the debut season registered slightly over 28,000.
If there has been one signature game that stands out for the Force so far from its first two seasons, it came in year one against the Crusaders.
Most expected the winless new boys to simply be cannon fodder when the defending champions rode into Perth, but the Force proved anything but.
In front of a frenzied gathering of over 30,000, the Force romped to a 20-8 halftime advantage, before weathering the inevitable comeback in order to earn a 23-23 draw.
A significant factor in that match, as he has been throughout the Force’s brief history, was winger Cameron Shepherd.
His try against the Crusaders was one of 15 he has scored to date – which included a run last year of six consecutive matches where Shepherd scored tries.
The Force’s leading try and overall point scorer also touched down in the pre-season against the Crusaders last year, and will be one who both coaches will be keeping an eye on tonight.