Cheetahs beat Force 17-13
Related coverage
- Western Force news
- Central Cheetahs news
- Rugby Union news
- Super Rugby news
- 2013 Wallabies squad news
The Western Force were left frustrated following their 17-13 Super Rugby defeat to the Cheetahs in South Africa on Sunday morning.
The Force couldn’t take a trick from referee Stuart Berry, with the penalty count at one point reading 15-5 in favour of the Cheetahs in a stop-start match in Bloemfontein.
Force skipper David Pocock was left confused and angry over a number of decisions from Berry, with the Cheetahs capitalising on the favourable rub of the green to post their fourth win of the year.
The Force’s fourth defeat on the trot left them last in the Australian conference with just two wins from 10 outings.
Cheetahs five-eighth Sias Ebersohn, whose wayward boot cost him team victory against the Highlanders last week, nailed two first-half penalties and scrumhalf Tewis de Bruyn added another to give the home side a 9-6 edge at the break.
Force playmaker David Harvey nailed both of his penalties to keep the visitors in touch, but good attacking opportunities were few and far between for the Perth-based franchise.
The Force were controversially denied a try to winger Samu Wara on the stroke of half-time after the assistant referee deemed prop Salesi Ma’afu had illegally affected play in the lead-up.
Ma’afu wrapped his arm around the neck of his opponent at the breakdown, but in reality the incident had little effect on Wara’s ability to break through the Cheetahs’ defence just moments later.
The Force were celebrating shortly after half-time when inside centre Winston Stanley charged down Willie le Roux’s kick and scrambled over for the opening try of the match.
Harvey’s conversion made it 13-9 in the 46th minute, but just eight minutes later the Cheetahs regained the lead when hooker Adriaan Strauss sneaked over in the corner.
Ebersohn failed to nail the tough conversion, but his long-range penalty in the 60th minute proved to be the final points of the match as the Cheetahs held on for victory.
© AAP 2013Looking to join The Roar team? We're searching for an experienced Group Sales Manager to lead our team in Sydney. Yes, this does mean you get to work with the site all day long! If you're a digital media sales star, we want to hear from you. Apply now.
Passionate about your union? Then sign up to The Roar's brand new daily union email, delivering Roaring articles directly to you day-in, day-out. You'll love it!
Click here to join now!
- Explore:
- cheetahs, Rugby Union, Super Rugby, Western Force
May 6th 2012 @ 10:36am
Harry said | May 6th 2012 @ 10:36am | Report comment
Headline should read Cheetahs + Ref + Touch Judge beat Force.
May 6th 2012 @ 11:21am
sittingbison said | May 6th 2012 @ 11:21am | Report comment
Haven’t watched it yet Harry, read live reports and several roundups, and some chatter on force forum. Yes there are comments about the lopsided penalty count and disallowed try, but also a great deal of concern at the several selections and lack of changes to style of play. With strike force of Nalaga Wara and Mafi did they attempt or manage to get it out there? Try expansive? Especially when decisions are going against forwards? Sounds like Harvey was ineffective at 10, only other option is Seymour.
I’ll try and see the replay then comment on what I see.
May 6th 2012 @ 12:43pm
sittingbison said | May 6th 2012 @ 12:43pm | Report comment
FFS foxtel, who could replay any time they like, choose 1030am Sunday morning so no pubs are open. And game is live at 130am. Just frakking great.
May 7th 2012 @ 10:04am
Albo said | May 7th 2012 @ 10:04am | Report comment
The Foxtel Programmers aren’t scheduling around those people who DON’T have Foxtel. 10:30am is actually a FANTASTIC time for those people who pay for their services but didn’t want to get up in the middle of the night to watch it, have a lie in, and then watch the game.
I agree that Foxtel is expensive and it’s a real shame that games aren’t available on FTA, but like any other business they have a duty of service to their paying clients before anyone else. Basic business model I would have thought.
May 7th 2012 @ 12:05pm
sittingbison said | May 7th 2012 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
yup, however an awful lot of pubs use foxtel access to these closed shop sports to get custom, and advertise that heavily.
May 6th 2012 @ 11:13am
Blue Blood said | May 6th 2012 @ 11:13am | Report comment
Hear, hear Harry. I hate calling foul on referees but this was 17 vs 15 out there. How can a local referee officiate a local team. 2 weeks in a row that the Force have faced this challenge. How the assistant ref called out Maafu but then did nothing when Hodgson was taken out from pilfering the ball by his head and driven into the ground head first and knocked clean out cold I’ll never know. By all means protect the players refs but do it consistently. The commentators were also woeful. With the praise heaped on the cheetahs kicker when he was missing you’d think not only that he’d kicked it but won the game with every kick. Embarrassing night of rugby. The Force made 4 times the tackles but weren’t allowed to touch the ball by the ref. the Force and the Force fans deserve an explanation. 2 weeks in a row huge decisions have gone against them with refs from the opposition team’s country. Enough. We talk about depth in playing stokes, what about the crisis in referee stock in Super rugby? Sad that I set my alarm just to share the Force players misery. Pocock was obviously beside himself all game. It’s a tough season but last night they weren’t permitted to play the game. If this was the Tahs or Reds the ARU might do something about it, I won’t hold my breath for the Force though. Prove me wrong ARU
May 6th 2012 @ 11:56am
Blue Blood said | May 6th 2012 @ 11:56am | Report comment
I just saw that the player who knocked Hodgson out has been reported for dangerous play at the breakdown. Hopefully something will be done to stamp out this play before a spinal injury is caused. Considering it was right in front of the assistant ref who intervened against Maafu you would have thought he would have done the same for Hodgson.
May 6th 2012 @ 1:18pm
Justin said | May 6th 2012 @ 1:18pm | Report comment
How the AR can say the the Mafu incident affected the try I will never know. A shocking decision and just creating the growing bias perception. The ref appointments are all over the shop.
Some matches having neutrals, some not, some having an SA ref travel to NZ and then an AUS ref on same night doing an AUS match. It just makes no sense what so ever…
May 6th 2012 @ 1:30pm
Latimer-Umaga said | May 6th 2012 @ 1:30pm | Report comment
Please, Maafu was choking a player, absolutely that try should be reversed purely because had the ref seen it, it would have been a penalty before the try was scored. Had a South African player been choking and opening hand palming a prone player on the ground would you have anything to say? no. Let us not forget that Ronan O’gara was choked out a couple of years ago. Dangerous stuff and Maafu should be suspended – but him being on the Force team is punishment enough, I guess.
du Preez scored an intercept try against the Chiefs in 2010 but it was disallowed because 2 minutes earlier Deon Steggman did a light shoulder charge and the touch judge came in with his report. Get over it.
Cheetahs were 30 points the better side. How many times must the Force infringe and stop the free flowing rugby before they get yellow carded? the ref was lenient if anything.
So lucky Johan Goosen wasn’t playing otherwise things would have gotten ugly – 50 points piled on the Force ugly. Sias was decent last season but is totally out of form and demotivated and no where near the talent of Goosen.
Boks looking good in the flyhalf area with Steyn, Goosen and Lambie.
May 7th 2012 @ 9:49am
Justin said | May 7th 2012 @ 9:49am | Report comment
Please, he had him by the head, he wasnt chocking him. We see similar in plenty of mauls each week and nothing is done!
May 7th 2012 @ 11:28pm
Nipper said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:28pm | Report comment
Agreed – it wasn’t a choke. This “cleaning out by the head” happens EVERY ruck and maul. Honestly, how many times to do you see a defender taken out by the head in a driving maul??!
If it’s deemed illegal (I’m sure by the letter of the law it is), then call it all the time, on everyone. But to call it, and then call back a try when it doesn’t impact the play at all is just plain ridiculous. One of many ridiculous calls on the day, but this one took the cake and was a game-changer.
And like others pointed out, how do they not call the head-plant against Hodgson? This was like the “bad old days” of S. African refereeing.
I don’t like the whinging about the ref either, but how many times can the Force get screwed before you start to call it out?
And this reffing incompetence is by and large across the board in this year’s S15. When the biggest discussions after the weekend are about the refs (see the Reds-Cru discussions), then SANZAR has a problem on their hands.
May 7th 2012 @ 11:40pm
PeterK said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:40pm | Report comment
the attacking of a players head in rucks and mauls is illegal. Indeed the wrestling technique of twisting by the head / neck is now awhite card offence leading to suspension.
However refs ignore this dangerous play so it is inconsistent to pick on this example as you say it is done all the time.
IMO this attacking the head is worse than the tip tackles, and I wish they would be as vigerous stamping this out and be more lenient on tip tackles (or go back to the old view on them on being driven down).
May 6th 2012 @ 1:35pm
Ash said | May 6th 2012 @ 1:35pm | Report comment
This is getting beyond a joke. Who is selecting the referees for each game? Who is in charge of the referees? Who trains the referees?
May 6th 2012 @ 1:52pm
Latimer-Umaga said | May 6th 2012 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
Conspiracy theory #1. Maybe the South African refs are getting revenge for Bryce Lawrence’s under the table money at the stick your tongue out and look mean cup.
May 7th 2012 @ 7:06am
Riccardo said | May 7th 2012 @ 7:06am | Report comment
“stick your tongue out and look mean cup”.
Brilliant.
May 7th 2012 @ 8:17am
Latimer-Umaga said | May 7th 2012 @ 8:17am | Report comment
Thank you.
May 6th 2012 @ 3:23pm
sittingbison said | May 6th 2012 @ 3:23pm | Report comment
Ok, because of foxtels excellent programming I have been unable to watch a replay. Here is a post from force forum that has received some agreement. Feel free to dispute if you have seen it:
“We were penalised out of the contest. Some of the rulings were baffling at times. The disallowed try was criminal and cost us the game. The Force effort was magnificent again.
The lineout was first class. I don’t think there was a crooked throw or a lost lineout. It was top shelf stuff from thelineout.
The scrum was magnificent until the replacement prop came on. He was penalised two scrums in a row for not binding correctly. That is a serious technique issue. he got it right after that though.
Our backrow dominated. Pocock and Hodgson in particular were magnificent. The turnovers came thick and fast. Rousow (sp?) was not at all disruptive. The Force backrow dominated this fixture.
The defence was magnificent
Blake initiatives:
I was pleased to see some new trends that is clearly a change in coaching, tactics and alignment.
The speed of ruck and maul was notably faster. The ball was shifted quickly from the breakdown. There was some magnificent pick and drive and the ball was shifted as soon as it was laid back.
The clean out at ruck time was ferocious and accurate. This allowed placement and fast movement to the next phase.
The backline moved the ball wide and opened up space several times on the wings.
Nalaga was used frequently in midfield and opened them up on one occasion. He was in open pasture and was ankle tapped.
Kicking was not aimless. The ball was kicked when required but usually found open pasture off the boot of Harvey. Some of Sheehans box kicks were amateurish however. Sheehan needs to put his box kick away.
There was a plan to keep ball in hand and have a crack. The backs clearly had a plan ( a welcome change). Each player understood what the game plan was and what their role was in each situation……….good coaching
The backline created space and opportunity on several occasions. It wasn’t a rabble of blokes that looked like they met 5 minutes before kickoff and hoofed it because nobody knew the plan.
The backline was better organised but lacks pace and ability ( sadly)
of note:
Stanley had his best game in the Force jumper. He defended strongly and ran good lines. He made plenty of breaks and scored a deserved try for his effort to charge down a kick.
We chased the game all night but we were penalised heavily which was frustrating
Clearly better drilled and coached.
More attacking mindset
Some tactical changes to bring Nalaga into play in midfield
A tick for the tactical changes and coaching improvements. A tick for effort.
The forwards were the best pack on the field and won every facet of the game.
The referee was ordinary. It made me think of the old days when home town referees decided the fixtures. The refereeing was atrocious ( but don’t take my word for it, watch it for yourself)
Nathan Charles was absolutely outstanding. The wallaby selectors must really start thinking selection now………..and I’m not talking about warming the pine in 16″
I asked how they managed to lose other than “we woz robbed”, and the answer was that it was very difficult to get momentum or rhythm, and effectively we WAS robbed. It looks like it was refs FIRST S15 game, South African in South Africa with one SA team. Probably not great selection. Another post is if they have a mindset perception or preconception they will not see what is in front of them, but what they expect to see. Another post is how did the same AR that flagged Force try not see the assault on Hodgo that knocked him out when it was right in front of him.
Lippy might have something to say about losers bagging the ref, and in general I agree, however this game seems to have highlighted some growing concerns at the role, quality and consistency of ARs, and ridiculous referee selections.
May 6th 2012 @ 3:45pm
Latimer-Umaga said | May 6th 2012 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
Cheetahs dominated attack. The Force get by without being thrashed by cheating at the breakdown. Like I said, the Force were lucky to be playing with 15 men. Brussow’s lack of turnovers – the Cheetahs only made about 40 tackles to the Force’s 100+
Cheetahs by far the superior side.
May 6th 2012 @ 4:04pm
Harry said | May 6th 2012 @ 4:04pm | Report comment
A generous though not entirely inaccurate writeup bison. The Cheetahs had a lot more chances to score than the Force though, no doubt about that.
I do believe the Force got a really raw deal from refs though.
May 6th 2012 @ 6:27pm
The Bone said | May 6th 2012 @ 6:27pm | Report comment
Blake you are a joke, why use your bench with only 8 minutes to go. Holmes, McCaffrey and Seymour should have come on with 20 to go. Maybe time for these lads to start.
Pocock TAKE THE POINTS and you may have won this one son
May 6th 2012 @ 9:01pm
Latimer-Umaga said | May 6th 2012 @ 9:01pm | Report comment
This is my real name. Anyway, have fun supporting the Farce. Most one dimensional attack in the competition. Each game they play is a struggle to watch because all they do is cheat at the breakdown. Spoiling tactics. For this reason alone, despite the Farce never achieving anything, I cannot stand them.
May 7th 2012 @ 11:45pm
Nipper said | May 7th 2012 @ 11:45pm | Report comment
@Latimer-Umaga: “Each game they play is a struggle to watch because all they do is cheat at the breakdown. Spoiling tactics.”
But you probably love Richie McCaw and the AB’s, and think they’re awesome because they’re so darn good at the breakdown – am I right?
And regarding “Brussow’s lack of turnovers”, he clearly got outplayed once again by Pocock. I recall at least two incidents where Pocock pilfered the ball from Brussow. But he was probably cheating, right?
May 8th 2012 @ 7:13pm
sittingbison said | May 8th 2012 @ 7:13pm | Report comment
yup we do have fun supporting the Force, who always put in a wholehearted and determined effort, despite every possible impediment put before them by ARU, and consistentlly laughable decisions by refs, ARs and TMOs.
Who do you support LU?, The Blues? Have fun with that.
May 7th 2012 @ 8:46pm
Damo said | May 7th 2012 @ 8:46pm | Report comment
I dont follow the Force much Latimer but I have to say that you bring a level of level headed maturity to the debate that we on the ‘Force were robbed’ side of the argument can only be grateful for.