Home Redemption Against the Landers

[Ecky]

The journey has just begun, however the destination is still a long way off but wow, wow, wow, that was an almighty performance. The green shoots are starting to grow.

Dominant tackles, offloads to supporting players, better kicking accuracy and options seem to be the areas that showed considerable improvement.

How good was that win at home on Anzac week in front of the sea of blue.

Great stats all round the park and it was a great team effort however a few deserve to be highlighted:

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Should not single anyone out as it was a team effort, however Wells led from the front, Kalapu just goes from stregnth to stregnth, Anstee and Williams constantly good this season, Mataele on fire again Robertson and Fines has to be their best I have seen them play and Hegarty deserved MOM, all polish and class.

Also special mention to Kaitu'u. He was everywhere when he came on. What a beast!

[jargan83]

Look there is one reason why the Force won.

I wasn't there

[shasta]

Look there is one reason why the Force won.

I wasn't there

This was duly noted at the ground.

[.X.]

I have been critical of young Poolman this season.

To give credit where credit is due. I believe he had a much better match against the Highlanders. Hopefully he continues to improve.

[bootsetal06]

Isaac ….. a brilliant game . Passing running tackling support … an all round great performance from a 9 …… Eddie take note

[Tazzmania]

Also special mention to Kaitu'u. He was everywhere when he came on. What a beast!

Agreed, came on for twenty minutes.

Stats for those twenty minutes support your comment fully:

5 Metres, 6 Carries, 3 passes, 1 offload, 6 Tackles.

and his work with both Pearce and Amone in the scrums which is not quantifiable was telling.

[WFDom]

Isaac ….. a brilliant game . Passing running tackling support … an all round great performance from a 9 …… Eddie take note

Composed 10, livewire 9! Great combo

He was so quick from the ruck base. And like a man possessed in D

[Sheikh]

did anyone feel like the refs were giving us the rub of the ref due to the missed Tah's call?

I didn't feel like we were getting preferential treatment, although Berry was letting a number of things go. Players were allowed to be ~1m offside all night, and the Highlanders played that much better than we did, and line-out throws could be almost straight to the half-back without any calls, and the Highlanders definitely twigged that one (I was impressed by both our hooker's throwing, obviously something they've been going through in training!)

I was a little surprised that the second Highlander yellow card followed so soon after the first, but the first was for repeated infringements and the second for collapsing a maul near the try-line, which is something which often attracts an immediate yellow on it's own, so they should have been down to 13.

[shasta]

TBH, I thought it was mostly the difference you see when the team has the ball in their hands and attacking, vs backpedalling on defense for the first 20 minutes like last week.

That's probably on the mark. I have not been someone who complains about referees (and I'm pretty sure nobody could dig up much to say otherwise around here), but a lot of them seem to look harder at the team they expect to be on the back foot than the other one. This can tend to encourage "stronger" teams to take the piss, get away with it and put the "weaker" teams even more on their heels. Then there's home crowd influence. It seems to happen a bit - and definitely not only to the Force.

[Tazzmania]

And rightly so we dominate rugby.com.au Australiam team of the week:

Rugby.com.au has selected the best from the Australian sides for round nine.

1 Tom Robertson (Western Force)

Robertson continues to do his hopes of a World Cup call-up little harm.

He looked energised from his time in Wallaby camp, dominating former Force prop Jermaine Ainsley at set-piece time.

He also delivered crucial hit-ups at key moments of the game, including breaking multiple tackles to seal the win.

2. Alex Mafi (Melbourne Rebels)

3. Santiago Medrano (Western Force)

Medrano is one of the form tightheads in Super Rugby, powering the Force home.

He provided a solid contribution at defensive time with 12 tackles and a key turnover.

This coupled with a solid night at scrum time saw him edge out Sam Talakai

4. Josh Canham (Melbourne Rebels)


5. Jeremy Williams (Western Force)

Williams has relished the extra leadership bestowed upon him, stepping up for the Force

The former Waratah narrowly missed out last week but was too hard to ignore after yet another tireless effort.

He stole a key line out whilst he carried the ball with a real intent to get over the advantage line.

For this, he earns selection over teammate Felix Kalapu, equally as dominant.

6. Josh Kemeny (Melbourne Rebels)

7. Brad Wilkin (Melbourne Rebels)

8. Michael Wells (Western Force)

In a week where all three Australian number eights stood out, Wells just holds out Ekuasi and Harris for selection.

Wells might not be as flashy as the other two but it's the work you don’t see that he excels at and ultimately proved the difference in the win.

He didn’t miss a tackle from his 13 attempts, constantly took the ball over the advantage line and kept the fast-paced offence flying with a pair of nice offloads.

9. Issak Fines-Leleiwasa (Western Force)

Fines-Leleiwasa was a nightmare to handle for the Highlanders.

He flew across the park to catch them napping especially in the first half with a couple of nice darts in open play.

The scrumhalf had three tackle busts to go with four offloads as he steered them around the park perfectly in the absence of Gareth Simpson.

10 Bryce Hegarty (Western Force)

Hegarty proved the difference for the Force on his return from a back complaint.

The step past the fullback for the opener was a thing of beauty and set the tempo for the upset.

However, it’s his kicking game that was the shining light, controlling field possession and territory with a series of pinpoint strikes. He was also perfect from the tee to contribute 18 points, outscoring the Highlanders by himself and earning selection over Carter Gordon

11. Manasa Mataele (Western Force)

Mataele ensured his 50th game will be one of the remember.

He produced two try-saving tackles as the Highlanders went on the attack, flipping momentum after a slow start to the second half.

The winger finished with a game-high 105 metres to go with six tackle busts, three clean breaks and a well-earned try

12. Joey Walton (NSW Waratahs)

13. Sam Spink (Western Force)

Spink has become a reliable contributor to the Force’s backline.

He put his hand up for a number of key carries to get the attack firing, with his partnership with Hamish Stewart starting to form nicely.

Spink also produced some key moments in defence, earning a pair of turnovers.

14. Monty Ioane (Melbourne Rebels)

15. Chase Tiatia (Western Force)

Tiatia delivered one of his best games for the Force.

He sparked numerous attacks, most notably the break that put Manasa Mataele over just before the break.

This coupled with his efforts to stop Marino Mikaele-Tu’u scoring a certain try was enough to earn his place over Andrew Kellaway, who continues to shine for the Rebels

[shasta]

Sometimes we seem to have been on an 18 year search for cohesion and a settled line-up and started 2023 no different. The thing I'm liking is, even with a fair few key position changes there is a style of play coming together where they know their role no matter what number is on the shirt. Fines is pretty hard to figure out and Tia Tia has taken a while to blend but there's signs the coaches' "process" is getting bedded in.