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Western Force will step up to New Zealand challenge
By Western Force fullback Cameron Shepherd
March 12, 2008 10:00am
I HAVE never felt so bad after a game as I did after losing to the Crusaders - and I'm still feeling it, writes Western Force fullback Cameron Shepherd.
I was pretty destroyed after the game.
It was one of those chances that don't come along very often and everyone was just so disappointed.
We defeated ourselves in the end, with so many errors.
When we put pressure on them they were in trouble - and I really thought we were the better side for 60 minutes.
We were making the most inroads, took the ball to them and looked dangerous every time we had the ball.
But it's no good putting together 60 minutes of good football and then failing at the crucial time.
We want to be the best team in the competition, but if we are going to be the best we've got to learn to put teams away.
I made a couple of mistakes, I had a kick for touch that didn't go out.
Our kicking game was not the best, although I think we handled the wind better. It was really swirling around, one minute it would be blowing left to right, the next minute it had changed direction.
It made it hard to judge the high ball and the long kicks.
I thought we were a little unlucky when my pass to Scotty Fava that he gave back to put me in the clear was called forward, even after reviewing the game.
There have been so many games where passes like that have been let go. It was so frustrating because if that score had been allowed it would have given us a massive boost for half-time.
Having said all that, there were some positives that we took out of the game.
We scored some great tries and we believe we can still step up further.
One of the great things was seeing Lachie MacKay getting through uninjured and score.
He's such a big guy, he's dominant, he has a great passing game and both he and Gits (Matt Giteau) have the ability to organise.
New Zealand has always been tough for us, and it will be a big focus from here on in.
I know we will get the skill and intensity levels back up. We'll be giving it out best shot.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/stor...005401,00.html
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Originally Posted by Cam Shepherd
