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I’m sure I wasn’t the only person rubbing my eyes and pinching myself for the first 40 minutes of the Force-Rebels game on Saturday night. With the form lines of both sides coming into this match, there was just no way that I was seeing what I saw consciously.
It had to have been a dream.
Moreover, if it was a dream, then a lot of people on Twitter were sharing it with me.
Of course, it wasn’t a dream, it was very real. Too real, in the case of the Melbourne Rebels, whose decision to make six changes to the starting side which beat the Cheetahs well in Melbourne the previous week, was always going to look foolish if the Force won.
But even they wouldn’t have expected to make the Rebels look that foolish.
The Rebels’ decision to get the hook out first in the 27th minute of the game – just as the Force secured the fourth-try bonus point – and then again at halftime tends to confirm the move didn’t go so well.
And the faces of the hookees leading into halftime said it all; they were bereft of all clues as to what had just gone on.
For this, credit must obviously go to the Force, who came out breathing fire, with Alby Mathewson running in the first try while the nib Stadium crowd were still taking their seats.
From there, the Force just rumbled through the Rebels in all facets of play, but in attack particularly.
Matt Hodgson, playing his 100th match for the Western Australian club, was leading a forward pack inflicting all sort of damage on their opponents, and in their skipper’s honour.
The breakdown battle in the opening exchanges was as brutal as it was one-way.
Ben McCalman has started 2014 very well, and young backrow partner Angus Cottrell isn’t too far behind him.
The early confirmation of breakdown, and indeed forward dominance, ensured Mathewson was served up front foot ball at will, and from that the Force looked to attack at will – almost for fun at times.
And like we’ve all suspected, the Force do indeed have plenty of attacking talent out wide when they’re able to provide the quick ball they need.
Wallabies winger Nick Cummins and fullback Jayden Hayward were both excellent, and took advantage of even the slightest opportunity.
I still maintain Zack Holmes will give the Force a more natural attacking flyhalf, but I was pleased for Sias Ebersohn to prove me wrong, for the first half of this match at least.
And that’s how this game needs to be viewed, if we’re all honest with ourselves, Force supporters included.
The Force led 32-0 at the break, and didn’t trouble the scorers again for the rest of the match.
Where in the first half, the Force were able to establish ascendency on the back of 60% shares of territory and possession, once this swung back in favour of the Rebels in the second half, the Force were a shadow of their very-former selves.
That should be the worry for the Force going forward. With their share of territory back under half, and their possession closer to only 40%, the Force didn’t really fire a trick in the second 40 and, more’s the point, didn’t really look like they would fire a trick, either.
And so this is why the “we showed ‘em” commentary coming out of the west after the win was received with bemusement.
The calls from the Force and from Force supporters for respect have some degree of rationality about them, but this rationality has to be give-and-take.
If the Force had gone on with the job in the second half and really put the Rebels away by 50 like they perhaps should have, then I’m sure the credit for the win would’ve flowed more freely.
The fact the Force didn’t score after halftime proves they still have a long way to go before they can be spoken of in the way some of their supporters might be expecting them to be spoken of now.
And I don’t say that disparagingly at all; the Force has a wonderful band of passionate supporters over there in Perth, and I genuinely couldn’t be happier for them after the win.
But their celebrations do need to be tempered just a touch. And I’m going to trot out a favourite line of mine again to make this point: the Western Force are not only as good as their last game, they’re only as good as their next game.
Over the next month, the Force face the Highlanders in Dunedin, the Chiefs at home, the Reds in Brisbane, and the Waratahs at home, before the rematch against the Rebels over the Easter weekend.
If the Force want to be taken seriously and have the Super Rugby competition take them seriously, they’ll win at least two of those games against quality opposition, and ideally one away from home too.
And I’ll look forward to singing their praises if and when they do.