Western Force Snatch Loss from Jaws of Victory

[Thequeerone]

Would we get Charlotte with him - bit of a worry there he obviously goes for the full Brazilian

[welshrugbyfan]

Would we get Charlotte with him - bit of a worry there he obviously goes for the full Brazilian

You hit the nail on the head, no wonder Drew keeps dropping off tackles.

[pieter blackie]

And don't come crawling back to us.

We don't need your non tackling ability in our back line.

Ring Gavin Henson get him over here. He's a pretty boy for the ladies and he can tackle and even run lines.

and here is proof that he can tackle

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzN8Hg7yCkE[/YOUTUBE]

---------- Post added at 20:21 ---------- Previous post was at 20:20 ----------

the second tackle !!!!!!!

[Vacuous Fangirl]

Ok he just answered.

Gavin wants to know if he could compete with the other pretty boys on the team before he signs.

omg he's lyk totali hhhhhoooooottttttt he can hell cum to perth anyday!!!!!!!!!!!!

[robyn <3]

So the games when players fall off tackles are the games when they should be removed from the club? I need to watch the replay, yes Drew missed tackles but how many more than everyone else? I don't remember any particularly woeful defensive efforts from Drew this season, last night wasn't pretty but otherwise?

Gerry could you please bring out the tackle-stats you post every game please? I'd get them myself but I don't have a clue where to find them

That's not tackling that's freaking sumo wrestling! The first one looked like an almost speartackle

[pieter blackie]

relax robyn he did play well and I thing the stats says he missed 1 tackle and he gained 132m

here is the link to the stats

the score

[jargan83]

Awesome, Brilliant is how I would describe the first 50 minutes

Pathetic, surrender, total capitulation the last 30 minutes

We scored that 4th try and stopped playing Rugby. The only reason the Hurricanes didn't over run the Force earlier was because of handling errors and turnovers.

I saw John Mitchell on fox sports news this morning and saw how he dealt with the loss to the cameras, I hope he fired rockets up the Force behind closed doors.,

Most of the rest has been covered, aimless box kicks etc etc etc

I thought we were supposed to be Top 4 contenders?

[welshrugbyfan]

That's not tackling that's freaking sumo wrestling! The first one looked like an almost speartackle

Nah mate that's tackling

and this isn't. Number 15 looks familiar.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcT9q9u83l4[/ame]

[pieter blackie]

ouch that says it all

[jargan83]

I apologise if this has been already posted but there is a aprt in it that will help the current discussion that I have highlighted. Looks like Quade did it as well in the above video clip

Last-gasp try sinks Force finals hopes

11th April 2009, 9:15 WST

Good Friday for most. Black Friday for Western Force.

The Force’s poor game management in the second half of last night’s Super 14 rugby match allowed the Wellington Hurricanes to grab a 28-27 win at Subiaco Oval.

The win saved their season and ended the Force’s hopes of playing finals in Matt Giteau’s last year.

Cory Jane’s try a minute after the hooter was payback for the Hurricanes, who lost at Subiaco Oval in similar circumstances two years ago.

The Canes spread the ball along their line and the Force defence was found wanting.

Last man Jane seemed to be covered but he easily wrong-footed Drew Mitchell to touch down.

The winning try came just four minutes after the Hurricanes were given a try-scoring opportunity by a dreadful leadership decision.

Holding a 27-16 lead, the Force survived sustained Hurricanes pressure to win a free kick just outside their 22m line. Instead of blasting the ball deep into Hurricanes territory, or into touch around the half-way line to relieve the pressure, the Force astonishingly opted for a scrum, even though their set piece had failed 10 minutes earlier.

Again, they lost the ball and the Canes attacked, with winger David Smith running through a cluster of blue jerseys to score a try which Willie Ripia converted to slash the margin to 27-23 and give his team hope.

When Jane subsequently took his opportunity, most Force players slumped to the turf, hands on heads. They knew they had blown the five competition points which would have kept them in the play-off race.

Instead, they finished with two bonus points which were meaningless.

“It hurts,” coach John Mitchell said. “We had to sustain too much pressure at the end. We couldn’t control possession in the latter stages. “That will test our character.”

Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper praised the courage of his players and their never-say-die spirit but the most significant aspect was the team’s often-questioned poise. “I was very proud of the decision making of the leaders,” he said.

When push came to shove, the Hurricanes did everything right and the Force didn’t. The home team played as well as they could for 45 minutes and then lost the plot and ultimately the game. They persisted with ineffective box kicks and, as fatigue set in, fell off too many tackles.

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.as...ntentID=135532

[robyn <3]

Cheers Pieter. Well according to those stats Drew missed ONE tackle. ONE!! Matt Giteau missed FIVE from 7, Ryan Cross and Junior missed THREE each from 8 and 10 respectively. And poor old Drew missed one of the NINE tackles he made. He also had 10 runs and made 131 metres, over double what anyone else made. Does the Turnover stat show the number for turnovers they caused or conceeded? Coz he got 2 of those too. On paper it sounds like a rather nice game Thanks for finding those Pieter, it makes my arguement sound a lot better Although, the video is hard to agrue against. That was a crap tackle Drew!

Why did that ONE tackle last night have to be the ONE that cost us the friggin GAME damnit!

But still, I think Drew should stay

[GIGS20]

Well after having sat through six hours of Rugby, I'm convinced that aimless kicking is the cancer that is killing Australian rugby.

Friday night, in the last ten minutes we kicked the ball to hand too many times (Monday, I'm going to watch the replay and post stats, stay tuned) Today, three games (including a WOEFUL performance by the 'Tahs) saw a bunch of crap kicking from just outside the 22 to the middle of the field, most of them picked up quickly and either run back for a good advantage or kicked out with interest.

As ox said players are passing up good counterattacking opportunities to kick the ball straight to the opposition.

Now I don't know if I know that much about rugby but it seems to me that you can't control the clock, or score tries if the other guys have the ball! There's a definite problem, either the coaches can't see the fatal flaws in this tactic, the players can't kick well enough to employ this tactic or the players aren't listening to the coaches and are just taking the easy way out. No matter which way you slice it, all the Aussie teams are kicking like CRAP this season, we should take all the tactical kickers in Aussie rugby out and make them sit and watch Steven Donald and Morne Steyn video for a whole week in the leadup to next week

(BTW I'd just like to mention that I think Steyn is a dog of a player, but he sure kicks beautifully, his kicking was what destroyed the 'Tahs tonight)

Also, to answer Jono's question, I think we're in with a shot. If we win every game from here, we'll hit about 39 points (no bonus points taken into account) if every other game goes to the highest placed team (results speak) we should be level with the Blues in 4th place, followed by the 'Tahs and Bulls on 35 and the 'Saders on 34.......a couple of bonus points in the right place or a victory or two going our way could seal it.

I haven't taken Bonus Points into account in any game, so that could sink us, but we're not dead yet!

[AndyS]

That was massively disappointing. I can't even imagine how the players must be feeling.

But if you can't close out a game like that, you just don't deserve it. More than that, there is no way you are ready for the knock-out rounds. In all honesty, there has always been a mental weakness in this team and I think most spectators recognise it. Certainly with twenty to go, everyone sitting near me were making comments to the effect that the game wasn't over and couldn't afford to shut up shop. We have seen it all before - this was just the most blaringly obvious example. If there is a single good thing to come out of the result, perhaps it will be that the players will finally recognise that the best way to defend is to deny the opposition the ball.

That was the problem for mine - it wasn't aimless kicking, it was just kicking as the sole plan. Almost all of the box kicks were rubbish, but some of the territorial kicks were quite good for what they were. The trouble is that, if not part of a larger plan to actually play in the opposition half by going to touch and contesting line-outs, all they do is return possession to the opposition. It just is not possible to put pressure on the opposition if you don't have the ball, so the only result from all those kicks in the last 35 minutes was pressure on the Force.

All they had to do was keep attacking and challenging the Hurricanes defense. Even with the 'Canes lifting the rating, it would have become an armwrestle and I think we would have seen it out. Instead, the Force just elected to become a punching bag - just keep returning the ball and make them start-over. The defense just wasn't up to a 35 minute examination.

Anyway...can they still make the final? Sure, they've honestly got the beating of any team in the competition. But can they? All math and faith aside, the evidence doesn't look good - it would require a degree of mental fortitude that the players have just not displayed to date. Even say they managed to take it right up to the Highlanders match, can anyone honestly say they would bet their life savings on the result? In the back of everyone's mind would linger the expectation that they would cough up a lead in the second half. It really is going to take some time and some very good performances to convince folk otherwise.

And that for mine was the scariest thing about that result - I sit near a couple that have been there from day one, always stay to the death and applaud the players, thick and thin. But after that, they just got up to leave and she looked across and said "I can't do this anymore". I really hope it was just the disappointment of the moment speaking, otherwise the team may have just done damage to their support base that Subi itself couldn't manage.

[thunderchicken9]

Just caught the match up here.. Geez... What else is there to say? The team playing in the 1st 50 minutes or so could have beaten anybody in the Super 14. Awesome set pieces, hard running, and great expansive, attacking rugby. The last 30 minutes of the 1st half could be used as an instructional video. And then... I dunno.. Complacency, I guess best describes the last 30 of the 2nd half.. They stopped attacking, content to kick away possession, playing with one eye on the clock. I hate to admit this, but I started to get a bad feeling with about 15 minutes to go.. You could just see the momentum shift and the 'Canes gaining confidence. Pretty painful, but it's no time to give in, there's a lot of rugby yet to be played. This game could crush the team mentally, but it could also be a turning point, a constant reminder to never let up on an opponent, no matter what score board says.

[oxleymoron]

Nick Taylor made a good comment in todays paper regarding Drew. With Drew publically stating that he will take the best money deal on offer for him for the next couple of years, I wonder if that the self imposed pressure of that statement is starting to affect him.

Sometimes that harder you strive to improve your efforts, the more you F*** up. Golf is a great example of this theory.