Roar Guru
The drought continued for Australian sides against Kiwi teams on Saturday night, with the Force succumbing to the Chiefs by 9 points in Perth.
Final score
Force 7
Chiefs 16
The Chiefs have endured a challenging trip to South Africa and now make their way to Perth to take on a Western Force team eager to impress in front of their home fans before their likely demise. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:45pm AEST.
It has been a challenging past few weeks for the Force, with the club likely to be cut from Super Rugby next season.
With this in mind, the Force should be expected to compete strongly tonight as they approach the end of the club’s existence as a Super Rugby franchise.
The Force though will be pushed significantly by a Chiefs side eager to impress following a tough fortnight in South Africa, where they suffered a defeat to the Stormers before escaping with a win against the lowly Cheetahs.
Like all New Zealand teams, the Chiefs are a force to be reckoned with in possession, but defensively, they have leaked plenty of points over the past fortnight and will be keen to keep the Force at bay this afternoon.
David Wessels has made a whole heap of changes to his side to take on the Chiefs at home in Perth on Saturday.
Injuries to locking duo Matt Philip and Richie Arnold have seen Ross Haylett-Petty move from blindside flanker to the second row, while Lewis Carmichael will make his debut.
Impressive backrower Richard Hardwick returns to the starting line-up at No.8, with Ben McCalman ruled out with muscle soreness.
In the backs Michael Ruru has been ruled out with an ankle injury which places further strain on the scrum-half position after Ryan Louwrens’ season-ending knee-injury.
The capable Ian Prior comes into replace Ruru, while Shute Shield No.9 Mitch Short has joined the club and is line for a debut off the bench.
Wallaby Luke Morahan comes back into the starting team on the wing, as does Curtis Rona who replaces Chance Peni who misses the match with a groin injury.
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie has made four changes to his side.
Siegfried Tisi’ihoi has been given a run at loose-head prop, while Dominic Bird returns in the second row and Liam Messam at blindside flanker.
There’s just one change to the backline with Shaun Stevenson replacing Toni Pulu on the wing.
Prediction
he Force should be expected to give it their all tonight but the attacking potency of the Chiefs once again gives them a key edge. In a high scoring game, the Chiefs should continue NZ’s dominant Super Rugby record against Australian sides.
Chiefs by 14