Western Force Mauritius 10s Squad

[travelling_gerry]

WESTERN FORCE CROWNED WORLD CLUB 10S MAURITIUS CHAMPIONS

By Fraser Smith on Sun 19th June 16


The Western Force pulled off a remarkable 7-0 win over the ACT Brumbies tonight to be crowned World Club 10s Champions at Anjalay Stadium in Mauritius with Nedlands star Michael Ruru named player of the tournament.

The Brumbies dominated possession and territory for large portions of the match but herculean defence from the young Western Force team saw the Western Australian’s hold their Australian counterparts scoreless to secure a thrilling victory.

The Force made the most of their limited time with ball in hand with Brad Lacey’s early second half try proving the decisive score.

After overcoming the Italian All Stars 29-0 in a high paced encounter in the semi final just hours earlier the Western Force found themselves on the defensive from the outset with the physical Brumbies side coming out hard.

The Brumbies spent most the first half camped in the Western Force half only to come up empty handed with the Western Force’s defensive systems and tireless work at the breakdown forcing multiple turnovers.

Locked at 0-0 heading into the halftime break head coach Dwayne Nestor gave his side some words of wisdom and inspiration going into the final 10 minutes of the tournament.

Spurred on by the words of Nestor the Force came out firing after the break and on their first meaningful possession of the second stanza Ammon Matuauto broke the line before offloading to Michael Ruru who found Brad Lacey and the speedster crossed for the first and only try of the match.

Ruru calmly slotted the extras to put the Force up by seven with eight minutes to play.

The Brumbies threw everything they had at the Force in the final minutes but the Western Australians held strong to once again force turnovers in the final third thanks to the work the Oliver Hoskins and Riley Winter.

With just 60 second’s on the clock the Brumbies attempted to go 90-metres to level the scores only to knock on just 10 metres from the line.

As the final siren sounded the Western Force survived multiple scrum resets before Angus Taylor flung the ball back to Ruru who booted it into the stands and finalise the Force’s victory thrilling 7-0 victory and right to call themselves World Club 10s Champions.

[Ecky]

Is this the same side being sht-canned at the start of this thread for whom they picked to play and coach?

[Ralto]

Fantastic win! Well done boys, just what the Force need right now!
As defending champs can we get the next series here in Perth? Dream on!

C'mon, it's gotta be at AAMI

[Alison]

What fantastic news!! Well done boys! Super proud of you!!!

[travelling_gerry]

Western Force 10s captain Kane Koteka said he was proud of his side and the belief they showed.
“It’s amazing to win, especially against a star-studded Brumbies team. We came in as underdogs and we didn’t mind that tag,” said Koteka.
“We had a lot of belief in our own group and we never thought we were underdogs ourselves. We just played our own game and it came off. They were the favourites for the tournament and here was a lot of pressure on them. To go down must be pretty heartbreaking for them, but we’re just happy to get the win.”
Read the full match report from last night's win here; http://bit.ly/WC10s-Champs

[Sheikh]

Is this the same side being sht-canned at the start of this thread for whom they picked to play and coach?

Dwayne Nestor to get Foley's job?

[Herbasimplex]

do we even have a trophy cabinet?

[Kev]

Ruru must be brought into the Force, nothing to lose now DW ... Prior & Louwrens can't manage the game & possession like him ...

[Kalahard]

Is this the same side being sht-canned at the start of this thread for whom they picked to play and coach?

Yes, the same team and coach.

[beige]

Great news and great effort. I know the tournament doesn't mean much in the wider scheme of things but finally some silverware!

[Herbasimplex]

Great news and great effort. I know the tournament doesn't mean much in the wider scheme of things but finally some silverware!

We won a tournament. It's awesome and we're awesome. Supplicate yourself before our greatness brumbies, tahs and reds.

[andrewg]

Good coverage by the West Australian.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...win-world-10s/


Western Force win World 10s
The West Australian on June 19, 2016, 11:16 pm



Surprise package Western Force has shocked their highly favoured opponents and Super rugby heavyweights Brumbies to clinch the World Club 10s title in Mauritius.

The Force, a side made up almost entirely of local club players and academy members with just a couple of players with Super Rugby experience, beat the fully professional outfit by a single second half try from Brad Lacey, converted by Michael Ruru.

It was the first silverware won by the Force since their foundation and in doing so beat a side who were runners-up when the tournament was last held in Singapore two years ago.

The underdogs simply gave no respect to the tournament favourites as they scrapped for every ball.

Their massive defence won the game, particularly in the first period when the ACT-based side threw everything at them.

They tried to bury them at the scrum but the Force pack stood firm.



The force barely moved from their own 10 metres in the first period and it seemed it would only be a matter of time before the wall was broken.

But it never cracked even when the players were obviously exhausted.

Coach Dwayne Nestor described the win as awesome.

“I said to the boys before the game that the two things that win grand finals are enthusiasm and desire to win. They showed both, dead set,” he said.

“This was a group of young blokes who really wanted to work hard. This is no different to what the Force do week in week out.

“They work really hard for each other and that is something that will be unique to the Force.

“The defence was brilliant, brilliant.”

Captain Kane Koteka said the win was unreal.

“Mate, we were underdogs but we believed in the group the whole time,” Koteka said.

“We're stoked. The boys really wanted it, you could tell.

“They wanted to make the most of this opportunity. We're stoked to be representing the Western Force.”

The Force had moved into the finals from second spot in their pool after beating the Italian All Stars 38-0 and French powerhouse Toulon 19-7 although they went down 19-10 to competition favourites Brumbies.

They opened the second day of competition with a 12-7 quarter-final victory over the Heyneke Meyer coached Africa Pacific Dragons and a 29-0 victory over the All Stars in a rematch.

[valzc]

They showed great composure and took their chances when they were on offer. Played clever rugby. Something I would like to have seen at the Force this past few years. Ruru proved to be a good manager on the field with great skills, communicated well with the team.

[todd4]

do we even have a trophy cabinet?

I could hear guys using hammer and saw out the back of RugbyWA as I drove past, should be finished by the time they get back.

Hope it doesn't look like something that Homer Simpson made... (did anyone see the episode where Homer made a spice rack? )

[beige]

I notice some media outlets couldn't resist reporting it as "Brumbies heartbreak" rather than "Force win"

But hey, "Western Force - world champions" has a nice ring to it