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Mitchell stays positive
April 22, 2007 - 10:45pm
Story by: Sportal
Western Force coach John Mitchell listed a host of positives in his side's performance against the Brumbies on Friday night, despite the fact they lost the ‘do-or-die’ Investec Super 14 encounter 14-12.
It was a marked improvement from the Force, who conceded 117 points in their two previous matches, with the Brumbies only able to score a try just before half time when Ryan Cross was in the sin bin.
Mitchell praised his side's effort and remained positive after the match, but he would have been concerned by an injury to star winger Cameron Shepherd, who limped off the field with what appeared to be a knee injury.
The result puts a serious dent in the Force's finals hopes. With two games to go, the Perth-based team are on 27 points, a bonus-point game behind fourth spot, held equally by the Chiefs (32) and Bulls (32) four on 32 points, with the Brumbies 31.
But Mitchell said his side would still fight on, in case other results happened to go their way.
"We're still in with a chance," Mitchell said.
"We go home now and we'll have to win those matches, but we grabbed a point here so that still keeps us hanging in there.
"As you can see we aren't a side that's just going to hand it to anyone, we'll just keep working hard."
It was a cruel way for the Force to lose in Canberra. When former Brumby Matt Giteau silenced the home crowd with a 78th minute penalty goal to put the Force in front, they may have been forgiven for thinking that the result was going to go their way.
However, the Brumbies responded with a penalty of their own through Mark Gerrard, snatching the win with a minute to go.
Mitchell commended his squad for their performance, after they restricted the in-form Brumbies to only one try for the match.
"I thought it was an outstanding performance from the guys considering what we've come away from in New Zealand," Mitchell said.
"[I applaud] the pride and the effort, and the way that we defended with 14 men for 20 minutes, and then getting back in a position to win the match.
"I thought our plan at lineout defence worked really well. I probably would have liked a little more first phase attack, but we certainly nullified their first phase attack, which is, I guess, a big feature of the Brumbies.
"I want to lift these guys up, and support them, and just reflect on how far they've come within a week. I'm really proud of them.
"In terms of our defensive organisation, and the way we worked together tonight, we got back to those principles that held us in good stead."
The loss was worsened by the injury concern to Australia's highest point and try scorer in the competition, Force winger Cameron Shepherd, who was helped from the field in the late stages of the game.
"I don't think he injured himself in the collision, I think he just sort of tweaked it just before that collision, so let's just keep our fingers crossed," Mitchell said.
"We'll get that scanned, we don't know how acute it was at this stage."