Force go down to Highlanders at Home

[Thequeerone]

OK Round 1 no 8 on the table - could be worse - lets thrash the stormers - they just received a hammering from the Cheetahs

[vallib]

Mitch is saying to give the backline time to gel,but how long do you want -this isnt a long competition and they wont get many favours from the other sides!!

[Lonzy]

hey coach were did you steal that from ... if you stole it at all! ... is it cool if I steal it just hope it wasnt the official force photographer... no but seriously I want it!! already done my draft pictures for the man of the match matty! will have em on canvas by the end of the week ready to be signed at the training session! then they will be framed and ready for anyone interested just wondering though, should I go a blue background like the fava ones?

Im so happy I got ma camera

here are the pics im "adapting"









Because I'm doing 4 pictures in the set I'm thinking try and be cheeky and get each of them signed, and put 1 signed one in each set and only have 4sets, keep one for myself and get rid of the other three ... I dont know just thinking out loud

I promise I will post some of my other ones but I have to shrink them

[Darren]

Nice photo's Lonz!

I "stole" that from the PerthNow website image 7 in the series. Not sure who the photographer is...

[Sagerian]

[Lonzy]

.... I'm sure they wont mind ... they will never know!

[fulvio sammut]

This site is crawling with spies, narks and fifth columnists. The Powers know everything. There are Reds and Jihadists under every bed.They will know Lonzy, they will know.

I'm not paranoid,it's just that everyone is out to get me.

[RuckNMaul]

get some sleep fulvio
two weeks without will make you think these things

[Lonzy]

hehehe I know fulvio ... oh yes I do! ! ! lol .... evil spies if your reading this ... I know who you are!!! yes I do!!!! dont think I dont ... because I do and thats the truth!!!

[The Lone Hydrangea]

Do the blue background Lonz.

[Darren]

http://investecs14.boxuk.net/server....ConBlogEntry.7

Highlanders over the Western Force

In the 33rd minute Brendan Cannon showed great initiative to throw a quick lineout to Gareth “Boof” Hardy. Dave Pusey streaked away to dive over the try line only to realise the referee had already whistled, ruling the ball had not travelled the required five meters at the lineout. The replay shows this to be one of many refereeing errors of the evening (for both teams). Perhaps a score of 14 to 3 going in to half time would have given the Force the confidence to put the foot down and get on with the business of scoring points like a Super 14 contender. It was a magnificent guts-effort from the Highlanders who were superbly led by Josh Blackie, and a disastrous season starter for the Force. Jimmy Hilgendorf looked great during his short stay on the field and the dynamic duo of Matt Henjak and Matt Giteau were effective. The pack provided plenty of possession, but they were well beaten at the breakdown. Richard Brown and Boof Hardy were the best of the forwards. Looking for a positive? The close result earns the Force a bonus point and takes them to 8th place after round 1 of the 2007 Investec Super 14 – their best position ever!

[Rodent]

Henjak had a great game and was one of the real positives to come out of the game. Quick crisp delivery mixed with some sniping runs (although I hope he doesn't do this too often). Hilgendorf was tearing them up in the middle until he went down with his groin injury, they were worried too much about Gits and left him to run rampant. Sheps had another solid game without too much ball. Cross did a bit but he needs to hit the ball at pace to get through the gaps, he's just not breaking the tackles as much as I would have hoped (early days yet). Mitchell had an absolute shocker, I think he turned the ball over with his first 5 touches... That is simply unacceptable. He is meant to be one of the more experieced backs.
Richard Brown is going into contact a little too upright still and thats creating problems for us getting quick ball, hopefully this is something that is relatively easy to fix.
I thought our work at the breakdown was better than last year, obviously our lineouts were a shambles, although I did question some of the "not straight" calls, it seemed they only started looking at that in the second half. The scrum didn't look great, with Henjak and Fava having to work pretty hard to clear the ball at times.
What really worried me in the game though was the one time they swung the ball wide quickly our defence did not look good.
Crushingly dissappointing but I thought there were a lot of positives to take out of the game. We should have run in another 2/3 tries in the first half, it was just lacking that bit of polish to finish off the moves that stopped us (and the ref calling back the Pusey try). It was the first week and it was bound to be a scrappy game. The only game of the weekend that really didn't look too scrappy was the Blues v Crusaders.
I think the boys will pull it together, but that was a lost opportunity and one that we really should have taken advantage of.

[Darren]

I like your attitude, son

[Rodent]

Its taken me until today to get there coach... Was bitterly dissappointed after the game.

[.X.]

Henjak had a great game and was one of the real positives to come out of the game. Quick crisp delivery mixed with some sniping runs (although I hope he doesn't do this too often). Hilgendorf was tearing them up in the middle until he went down with his groin injury, they were worried too much about Gits and left him to run rampant. Sheps had another solid game without too much ball. Cross did a bit but he needs to hit the ball at pace to get through the gaps, he's just not breaking the tackles as much as I would have hoped (early days yet). Mitchell had an absolute shocker, I think he turned the ball over with his first 5 touches... That is simply unacceptable. He is meant to be one of the more experieced backs.
Richard Brown is going into contact a little too upright still and thats creating problems for us getting quick ball, hopefully this is something that is relatively easy to fix.
I thought our work at the breakdown was better than last year, obviously our lineouts were a shambles, although I did question some of the "not straight" calls, it seemed they only started looking at that in the second half. The scrum didn't look great, with Henjak and Fava having to work pretty hard to clear the ball at times.
What really worried me in the game though was the one time they swung the ball wide quickly our defence did not look good.
Crushingly dissappointing but I thought there were a lot of positives to take out of the game. We should have run in another 2/3 tries in the first half, it was just lacking that bit of polish to finish off the moves that stopped us (and the ref calling back the Pusey try). It was the first week and it was bound to be a scrappy game. The only game of the weekend that really didn't look too scrappy was the Blues v Crusaders.
I think the boys will pull it together, but that was a lost opportunity and one that we really should have taken advantage of.

Congratulations Rodent - this is an insightful and excellently written post. Well done.

Couldn't agree with you more.