Western Force vs NSW Waratahs - Round 13 - May 9 2015

[jargan83]

Lock Adam Coleman will make his return for the Western Force when they take on reigning champions, the NSW Waratahs, at the ‘Force Field’ (nib Stadium) on Saturday (9 May).

Coleman missed last weekend’s match against the Blues with a shoulder injury, but has been reinstated in the Force line-up to face the side with whom he made his Asteron Life Super Rugby debut with in 2013.

The 23-year-old will again team up with Steve Mafi in the second row, in the only change to the Force forward pack.

In the backline, Solomoni Jnr Rasolea replaces Luke Burton at inside centre, while Ryan Louwrens, who scored a try in his starting debut last week, retains his place in the ‘9’ jersey.

On the Force bench, hooker Heath Tessmann is in line to play his 50th Asteron Life Super Rugby match this weekend. The robust rake played 10 matches for the Melbourne Rebels before joining the Western Force ahead of the 2013 season.

Tessmann will be joined on the reserves list by scrumhalf Alby Mathewson, who returns from a knee injury suffered against the Stormers in Round 10.

‘Superhero Saturday’ will land at the ‘Force Field’ (nib Stadium) on Saturday night, with spectators encouraged to dress as their favourite superhero in support of the club’s charity partner, zero2hero.

As part of the match, all children will ‘pay zero if you come as a hero’! The Western Force will give free entry for every junior (under 17) that comes dressed as a super hero. (Valid only for General Admission tickets sold at the gate, with a full priced adult or Western Force member.)
Tickets are available for the Western Force’s home match against the NSW Waratahs at the ‘Force Field’ (nib Stadium) on Saturday, 9 May. Tickets are available from www.ticketmaster.com.au.
2015 Asteron Life Super Rugby – Week 13
Western Force v NSW Waratahs
The ‘Force Field’ (nib Stadium), Perth
Saturday, 9 May 2015
Kick-off: 5.40pm

1. Pekahou Cowan
2. Nathan Charles
3. Tetera Faulkner
4. Steve Mafi
5. Adam Coleman
6. Angus Cottrell
7. Matt Hodgson (c)
8. Ben McCalman
9. Ryan Louwrens
10. Sias Ebersohn
11. Nick Cummins
12. Solomoni Jnr Rasolea
13. Kyle Godwin
14. Luke Morahan
15. Dane Haylett-Petty

Reserves
16. Heath Tessmann
17. Chris Heiberg
18. Guy Millar
19. Wilhelm Steenkamp
20. Kane Koteka
21. Alby Mathewson
22. Luke Burton
23. Marcel Brache

[NTT]

We got absolutely bitched in contact against the Blues and same thing will happen this week against the Waratahs. We have no dynamism at the tackle line, either running the ball or getting offloads away. We have no backline plays except here ya go, try and beat them with shovel passing. Our kicking is shit, both Goal and Field kicking. We are too scared to try anything with selections. We can't tackle to save ourselves. We have a terrible game plan. We are losing supporters.

I will always support the Force. The Force is my team. But in allreality...This week will be much of the same. Waratahs will look to bitch us again physically and will win comfortably. Tahs by 25. Crowd less than 8000. Beers consumed to numb the pain 15+.

[jono]

I'll admit, Big fan of the last part of your prediction

[brokendown gunfighter]

15 + Ntt--bare minimum

[jargan83]

The only thing 15 plus beers at NiB will numb is your wallet.

Will Western Force coach Michael Foley gamble with a surprise move in a bid to halt his side's sorry 10-game Super Rugby losing slump?

He could be tempted to bring Luke Burton into the key playmaker role for Saturday night's clash with reigning champions Waratahs at nib Stadium.

Foley does not make rash changes but he needs to get his backline firing and would have nothing to lose with the Burton experiment.

Burton, a utility fly-half for Australia at the 2013 and 2014 Junior World Cups, has been training in the role and was back-up to Sias Ebersohn for the Force's two-games in New Zealand.

He has played centre for most of the season where he has been a fearless ball carrier and tackler. However, at just 92kg, he is not the big player that Foley needs to regularly break or at least bend defence lines.

Foley made a similar change in his first year in charge, moving Kyle Godwin from fly-half to centre, a switch that put him on the Wallabies radar.

He needs to give his side a shake-up after last Saturday's 41-24 loss to the Blues that left them bottom of the ladder.

Their 34 missed tackles highlighted the inability of some players to maintain 80 minutes of rugby at the highest level.

Attitude was missing, particularly in the first half when the Force were passive in contact and let a ruthless Blues dominate the breakdown.

For the second week running the Force grabbed a bonus point four tries but by they time they had got their game in order with 30 minutes left it was all too late - the Blues had already raced out to an unbeatable 31-point lead.

Foley made no excuses. “Way too many missed tackles. That tells the story,” he said.

“It’s a physical game and you have to aim up. We were passive in contact. We just have to be honest about it…fair dinkum.

"The difference was our physicality in defence. We were standing on the line waiting for them to run at us…that’s fundamentally an attitude problem.'

The Blues were also smart in the tackle.

They identified the high carry position of some Force players, held them up in the tackle and slowed down any chance of a quick recycle, allowing them to realign their defence.

The Force did maintain sustained pressure and forced the Blues to make 134 tackles compared to 73 of their own, but it is no good having the ball for multiple phases if you don’t do something with it.

"We worked our way into good scoring positions but they were better at the breakdown," Foley said.

"They were able to get under our body height and underneath us at the breakdown."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...o-snap-streak/

[SNOB]

It's going to be a long cold night. Hip flasks to the rescue.

[The InnFORCEr]

Hurt Tahs seek revenge over Force

Adrian Warren
May 5, 2015, 7:01 am


Hurt and humiliated by the Western Force at the start of the season, the NSW Waratahs are determined to go into the rematch in Perth on Saturday with the right attitude against Super Rugby's last-placed side.

The Force caused a major boilover in round one with a shock 25-13 bonus point win over the defending champion Waratahs in Sydney.

The result represented the only win of the season so far for the Perth-based team, who have since suffered a franchise record ten straight losses.

Conversely the Tahs have won three straight and seven out of nine since losing to the Force.

"We were humiliated (by the Force)and that really hurt," Waratahs coach Michael Cheika told AAP.

"In my other roles (as Wallabies coach), I've watched all of their games and they've been unlucky and close in a lot of games."

Waratahs captain and lock Dave Dennis will emphasise to his troops the importance of having the right mindset against the success-starved Force.

"The last two times we played them we've lost, so we need to really be on our game," Dennis told AAP.

"They are going to be hungry, they haven't had the season they've wanted.

"So I'll really be stressing to the boys this week around our mental focus and our attitude and how good we are going to have to play to get the result over there."

The Waratahs have moved up to sixth and are just one point behind the Australian conference leading Brumbies with a game in hand, after beating them in Canberra last Friday.

"We're still seeking as a group a more consistent and higher level of performance," Dennis said.

"There's still that sense of a little bit of unfulfilment that we haven't reached our potential, so that's what's driving and motivating the team."

Dennis and four other Test-capped Waratahs displayed the softer side of their nature when they helped publicise the Dove Men+Care Real Strength campaign designed to "celebrate the caring side of modern men."

"What I've experienced within the Waratahs over the last three years, there's been a definite change around that acceptance of our emotions and feelings towards each other and expressing that," Dennis said.

"I think that's been one of our strengths over the last couple of years.

"In the public, outside of the club and in other domains of society, I think it still needs a lot of work."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...ge-over-force/

[GIGS20]

Don't panic, Checks

We're at the point where we beat ourselves now.

[The InnFORCEr]

Force aim for another Waratahs ambush

By Justin Chadwick
May 5, 2015, 11:40 am


The Western Force want to become Super Rugby's party poopers, and they've set their sights on derailing the Waratahs' finals hopes.

The Force are in danger of collecting their second wooden spoon following a demoralising 10-match losing run that has left them rooted to the bottom of the table.

In contrast, the Waratahs are in pole position to top the Australian conference following a three-match winning run.

The Force's only win this year came in round one, when they secured a four-try bonus point in a shock 25-13 triumph over the Waratahs in Sydney.

NSW are desperate to avenge that loss in Saturday night's re-match in Perth.

But the Force would love nothing more than to put a major dent in the Waratahs' title defence.

"Putting pressure on other teams and making them slip up is what our goal is," Force skipper Matt Hodgson said on Tuesday.

"That's our role in the competition now that finals are out of reach.

"And we want to finish strongly, because we saw in 2013 when we finished with some momentum, it rolled into 2014."

Hodgson said the round-one win over the Waratahs had given the Force a blueprint of how to go about beating the Australian powerhouse.

"It was all about aggression and attitude. We took it to the Waratahs and they didn't like it," Hodgson said.

"We look at them as the No.1 team in the competition. They're going to come at us to get a win, and we are going to come at them as well."

Force scrumhalf Alby Mathewson (knee) and lock Adam Coleman (shoulder) are a chance to return from injury, but Sam Wykes (foot) remains sidelined.

The Waratahs are sweating on the fitness of Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, who was concussed early in last week's 13-10 win over the Brumbies in Canberra.

The Force's 10-match losing run is the worst in their history, but Hodgson said it wasn't consuming the player group's thoughts.

"Obviously it's disappointing to get a run like that. But if you stop and think about it, you're going to waste time and effort," Hodgson said.

"So we're focusing on us and what we can control.

"It's frustrating. You can see all the effort and the work going in. It's just lapses that are costing us dearly."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sp...ratahs-ambush/

[Alison]

Imo, the 10-match losing streak bloody well should be consuming the playing group's thoughts! They need to think about what went wrong and fix it FFS!

[AndyS]

I don't get why everyone is so uptight. The time to get pissed off about losing was when it mattered, but everyone was content to applaud the effort and look for encouraging signs. The season was a train-wreck weeks ago, so it hardly matters now.

I'm particularly surprised that everyone seems to take losing to the Blues so hard, as they are one of the teams we've struggled with most in the competition...one win and a draw since 2008, otherwise an average 20 points loss each time. There is something about their style of play that ours has never been able to deal with, and it is not like we are trying anything new at the moment. Frankly that is what I find most strange, but it has been a bafflement to me for the last few years. Even played at its best (and last year must have been pretty close), our gameplan is one that will win a few games but won't win the competition. At some point one has to start wondering why no-one seems able to see that and be prepared to change the strategy. How long is it before just doing the same old thing become insanity?

[brokendown gunfighter]

maybe we just don't have the talent to execute a more expansive game?

[AndyS]

So make them better. They certainly aren't showing much talent or improving by simply continuing to do what they are doing now...you don't become a better rower by rowing badly. If some are as good as they are ever going to be, perhaps they need to be moved on for players with more potential. But the way to find out which is which is to have them play the way you want and see who steps up.

[kipper_mckinnon]

After we win on Saturday, that will be 3 in a row against the Tahs.
I wonder how many other teams will be able to say they have done that over the last couple of years ?

[chibi]

Keep the ball alive, run from deep, support the ball carrier and drive him on, hit the rucks, move the ball to the space, run into the holes, put a gap in 'em, don't get yourself isolated, draw the man, get your hands free, make yourself available for the pass, offload, play as unit,
GO FOR BROKE AND ENJOY IT LIKE BUGGERY!!!

And don't be afraid to pick some new faces in the starting XV...