Western Force v Fiji Drua 12/05/2023

[Garry Owen]

Felt sorry for Carlos shoulder and can’t believe he stayed on and still tackled whilst obviously and understandably sore he was and is immense.

A lot of players stepped up tonight. Great night!

Building a home ground fortress, shame we haven’t had more games, Brumbies should be worried

We have some great players, the potential in this squad is huge

[shasta]

Just watched the replay. I was impressed with Finesy at the ground and same now. He's getting better with each match. Digs the ball out quickly and his delivery is accurate. Very strong return for Fainga'a. Another great effort from Tizzano. Hope Rodda was on the mark with his return for the Ponies. Pasitoa should not be too far off either.

[GIGS20]

Just watched the replay. I was impressed with Finesy at the ground and same now. He's getting better with each match. Digs the ball out quickly and his delivery is accurate. Very strong return for Fainga'a. Another great effort from Tizzano. Hope Rodda was on the mark with his return for the Ponies. Pasitoa should not be too far off either.

Absolutely agree re Rodda.Ryan looks like he's done a collar bone in that tackle, so we're getting short of locks.Carlo is another one we desperately need fit next week

[shasta]

Western Force coach Simon Cron pleased to see his side execute his gameplan to beat Fijian Drua 34-14

https://thewest.com.au/sport/western...-14-c-10640483

All week, Western Force coach Simon Cron preached the need for structured rugby to beat the unstructured and free-flowing Fijian Drua.On Friday night, he got his reward as the Force turned in a commanding performance to beat the Drua 34-14, keeping their 100 per cent home record in tact and their finals hopes alive.Cron hailed his charges for executing their game plan, which held up in the face of the Fijians’ attacking rugby and helped the Force survive a 20-minute siege from the visitors to end the first-half. “We went in with some key focuses for the week around how we want to play - one of them was making them tackle a lot and the boys played some good attacking shapes that made them tackle and that’s important, because we can build phase pressure and get some penalties,” he said.“Defensively, we had some plans around how they’re going to run at us and the boys also executed in that area and I also felt like our communication and energy - our speed around the field and talking to each other - was really high from warm-up.”

After heading into the break with a 15-14 lead, the Force held the Drua scoreless in the second-half and their five-try effort was rewarded with a vital bonus point.Force captain Michael Wells said his forward pack had been challenged to control the game after the Drua came back from a 12-0 deficit with 14 unanswered points.“It’s a big responsibility on our leaders to kind of control the tempo, particular our play-callers, because we let them back in.“We presented those opportunities, missed tackles, gave them penalties so they could march down the field, we got away from doing what we were doing well and frankly, we probably got a little bit bored with it. “We got back to it in the second half and closed it out, we know with a team like Fiji, a very high emotional energy team, if you give them a chance you let momentum come.“We challenged our forwards this week, particularly on the back of the game against the Crusaders, where we conceded three or four maul tries... if we win the physicality battle, we win the set-piece battle.”

In his return to the line-up after a long-running battle with an Achilles injury, Wallabies hooker Folau Fainga’a made his impact felt both on the scoreboard (two tries) and around the ground.“He brings a calmness to the team, just around his leadership - he helps and adds to Wellsy’s leadership, which is important for us,” Cron said.“He can fix on the run, so if something doesn’t quite go right, he will talk to the people around and fix that. He was down for 50 minutes, the physios said to me ‘he’s looking ok, we can push him a bit further.’”

The win over the Drua allowed the Force to leapfrog them on the ladder and keep their finals chances alive - and with three games to go, Cron said they would not give up the ghost just yet.“The boys are punching, don’t worry about that, and we’ll keep throwing,” he said.

[WFDom]

Great performance. Looks like we're hopefully past the slow start issue from earlier in the season. Fast start in both half's. Wrestled the momentum back in the 2nd and shut them down.

Good attacking shape. Burey & Stewart looked like they'd been playing together for years. Looked like they were favouring the LHS for attack with Kibirige obviously injured.

Solid set piece. Fainga'a, Williams and Tizz were next level!

Frothin' for a win against the Brumbies.... we're due a scalp!

[palitu]

I cannot really work it out. sometimes, we play cool calm collected rugby for full games. then others we play shite for the full game. It's like if we choose to play, we play well. Otherwise, there was no point rocking up!

[Tazzmania]

A great effort on Friday night and our best this season.

Tizzano continues to be on fire, working hard in defence and attack.

Mataele one of his best games for us.

Stewart and Spink were solid in the centres and working very hard.

Faingaa showing the value of an abrasive big body front rower.

Williams, Robertson and Faaingaa kept the engine room running.

Kalapu and Pearce growing weekly and our future looks bright with them.

A team effort and all to be commended for a great effort.

Attack Stats:



Defence Stats:

[boof1050]

Quite a contrast in stats between the last 2 weeks.

[shasta]

Mataele one of his best games for us

Amazing tackle stats for a winger in the winning team. While watching him on Friday I couldn't help wondering what a weapon he might be at 13.

[GIGS20]

Amazing tackle stats for a winger in the winning team. While watching him on Friday I couldn't help wondering what a weapon he might be at 13.

I've been talking that possibility up since the moment he signed, I think he'd kill it at 13.

While we're cutting the fine line on keeping our wingers fit and we have Spinky at 13, I'm happy to wait to be proven right though.

[palitu]

the problem is that at 13 you dont get the space to work. on the wing he gets to work with space, which will give him the opportunity to make more breaks and be more damaging in attack.