Prior to the beginning of the Super Rugby season, many pundits and fans probably thought the Lions would finish bottom of the South African conference and bottom of Super Rugby overall.
No one, however, expected the events at Bloemfontein on Saturday, when the Lions picked up a precious away win against last season’s surprise team the Cheetahs.
While the Lions’ tenacious and determined win will give them a much needed confidence boost, it puts the onus on the Western Force to improve this season. Last year the Perth-based franchise finished bottom of their conference and 13th out of 15th overall in Super Rugby.
The off-season hasn’t been good for the Western Force while under the stewardship of Michael Foley. Foley hasn’t got much to work with, hence his decision to bring in several coaches and players from South Africa – four of the seven players the Force have acquired in the off-season.
The Force’s squad, led by captain Matt Hodgson, don’t have a wealth of depth. Within the forwards only Ben McCalman and possibly Hugh McMeniman have the star quality to allow the Force to win the vital battle up front.
McCalman had an excellent season for the Force in 2013 and the franchise will hope he can perform again in 2014, laying the platform for the backs to create chances.
The experience of Nick Cummins, Alby Mathewson, Luke Morahan (recently acquired from the Reds), Sias Ebersohn and their prodigious young talent Kyle Godwin mean the backs – although limited – can be dangerous if things click.
Mathewson is a scrum half full of cunning whose try against the Hurricanes last season was a real joy to watch, while Cummins is a winger who can put a real shift in every game as he showed for the Wallabies last season.
Ebersohn’s kicking helped pin opposition teams in their own half last season – should they go down the tactical kicking route again, Ebersohn is a handy asset. Morahan is a shrewd signing and showed what he could do with his excellent try against the Lions.
But Kyle Godwin is the pick of their backline talent. He is a player with huge potential and his contract extension until 2016 will have pleased Force fans.
Whether he plays at No.10 or No.12, Godwin will play for the Wallabies come the Rugby Championship in August should he have a good season.
Though the Force are a side full of spirit and enthusiasm, which on occasion can beat top teams such as the Crusaders, Brumbies and Reds, their attack can be toothless and limited.
The stats last season showed they had the worst attack in the competition, scoring a paltry 26 tries in 18 games. South African franchise the Stormers scored 30 tries last season but their defence at home was watertight. In fact, they remained undefeated at their Newlands fortress in 2013.
The Force’s defence was awful, conceding 366 points at an average of 20.3 points per game. Foley has at least tried to rectify that by bringing in South African coaches who can help with the defence and organisation.
Western Force fans will hope their on-field issues can be rectified by the time they kick off their season away to the Waratahs on Sunday, because off the pitch the franchise has major financial issues.
Their poor finish last year saw major sponsor Emirates pull out, meaning they have a hole of AUD$1 million in their budget despite being funded by the Australian Rugby Union. To try and limit their financial shortage, the Force have made offers to companies to have their logo on the jumper of individual players for $50,000 per player for the whole season.
In a time when Australian rugby is suffering financially talk has grown of whether Australia merits five teams in Super Rugby. This talk gathers steam when the depth at a grassroots level is considered, and when the Australian Under-20s side does not match the South Africans, New Zealanders or arguably even the Argentineans.
In the past two editions of the Junior World Championships in 2012 and 2013, the Australians have lost against Argentina’s Pumitas. The Aussies have underachieved in the 12-team tournament, finishing eighth and seventh in the past two years respectively.
That is why this season is so important for the Western Force to show critics they are worthy of their place in Super Rugby and persuade the ARU not to cut them.
With the rumour that SANZAR is to formally announce Argentina are joining Super Rugby – possibly in the next week or two – calls will be made to cut the number of teams over fears the competition will become bloated.
If the Force fare badly this season then rumours will grow of them being jettisoned by the ARU to save costs, meaning rugby union will lose its presence in Western Australia.
That would be a shame, but it’s up to Michael Foley and his players to prove they aren’t making up the numbers.
And what better way than to take inspiration from the Lions and surprise the Waratahs. Some might think the Waratahs will easily beat the Force, but who gave the Lions hope against the Cheetahs?
RobC
Guest
Thanks Bakkies. Just watched the clip. Insightful. Im guessing the trial games v Qld and NSW were also v helpful, as well as having the nucleus. I'm not sure WA club had as much exposure with eastern sides as ACT.
In Brief
Guest
Why don't you go back to watching replays of Waugh and Crawley wrestling in the mud in front of a couple of pocket billiard champs and a stray dog. . aagh, the good old days. The obvious fact that increasing the number of super teams has increased the depth of Australian rugby seems to have escaped you.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Great to hear CH
jeznez
Roar Guru
Ha ha - didn't even notice that!
Glenn Condell
Guest
Speaking of Nick Cummins, saw this today: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-18/surly-honey-badger-don-t-care-what-you-think-stupid.html
Crazy Horse
Guest
I think the ARU needs to understand that for many of us the Wallabies are not the be all and end all. Sure we support them, well a lot of us do. In this town there is also very strong followings for the All Blacks and the Springboks. For many of us the main game is the growth of Rugby at club and school level. The Force, and in particular the professional administration they have brought to Rugby WA has seen a massive improvement in the standard of Rugby in this state. To understand think that the staff of Rugby WA prior to the advent of the Force consisted of one part time administrator. Everything else was done by volunteers. Facilities in the main were very substandard. Now there are over 50 full time staff including Rugby Developmemt Officers, a purpose built rectangular stadium (nib Stadium aka Force Field). Rugby gets significant coverage in the local media. Nowhere near as much as AFL of course but prior to the Force we were lucky to get the Ist Grade results printed. There are 10 Premier Grade Clubs with a standard rapidly approching those in the East. On their day the best of these would give any club side in Australia a run fortheir money. There is also a "Championship" Grade competition consisting of clubs that do not yet meet the requirements of Premier Grade Status. The Juniors are bursting at the seams with the major problem being not recruiting players but finding grounds to put them on. In my day the firsts were " the mad buggers that actually care who wins the game. many very capable players weren't interested in playing with that attitude and played lower grades by choice. We all knew that you could be the best player in the world but the (Eastern) Australian Rugby Union was never going to give you a chance at being a Wallaby. The best you could hope for plying in WA was to get picked in a state team to get smashed by the All Blacks on their way to South Africa. That being the case there was little incentive to reach your full potential. Now every player knows that if they are good enough the sky is the limit. You can see it in the professionalism which even the older junior grades approach training. Competition for spots in the Premier Grade and junior representative sides is fierce. WA Clubs tour internationally regulalrly and are competitive. etc, etc, etc.
nmpcart
Guest
Cray Horse, that's good info on the local development. I'm interested in seeing more of this - why don't you write an article on WA rugby and the positives that are happening there, so those of us on the other side of the country can get a better understanding of how the game is growing? Rather than just having people write about the pro teams and players and some of the negatives that get thrown around I'd like to see more about how the game is growing and expanding in the face of competition. I enjoy the articles that people write about emerging countries and their rugby development, and equally would like to hear more about the grassroots around Australia. We certainly won't get it from the mass media so the Roar is the perfect place for it. I'm in Brisbane, and involved with junior rugby via my kids - our club is at bursting point with junior numbers to the point that they have to restrict enrolments due to a lack of floodlighting on parts of the grounds that would enable more kids to train. How are the junior numbers going in WA? In my view young kids enjoy the game and having a Super Rugby team in their town to follow gives them a high profile team to identify with. My kids identify with the Reds and below that the Premier team from our club - they feel that they are part of something and so I think that the Force would play the same role in WA for the kids. This way we get more kids playing the game and down the track that leads to more players to choose from.
Flying 14
Guest
How can you call yourself a guru. You are absolutely clueless!! Matt Hodgson is the Force captain. If want to write articles, get your facts right. Or we might start calling you Growden...,
Sandgroper
Guest
It would be nice if article posters actually responded. Most of the Roar posters are great at this I would have thought that a Rugby blog was a two-way affair and that some response to a reasonable critique was warranted. All we have from Mr Teclab is silence. It is a long time since I have seen a grown man take his bat and ball and go home. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given his Rugby credentials. If that is aniother example of wailing Westerners...too bad. At least we turn up to play.
Sandgroper
Guest
Jeznez, Did your auto correct turn Sias into Asias? Damn computers!
Rugger
Guest
Article lack credibility BIG TIME. Super Rugby will have expansion. Force are well supported and are in no danger of being dumped. As for Rugby being broke I think if Pulver had his time again he would have put things differently. ARU has issues with regards to model - money is tied to having wallabies playing game domestically and given 2015 is world cup year domestic tours and test matches will be minimal which means drop in revenue against big portion of fixed costs in player wages. This is the issue and not the fact the ARU is broke. To change the model means having more products that do not depend on Wallabies - Super Rugby, 7s rugby and NRC which is what ARU is doing. Agree U20's have under-achieved but its reflection of development they go through. All ARU does is get them into camps and names a squad. For the first time we will have U20's domestic games. NRL have Holden Cup, why cannot ARU have something similar with top 4 to fight it out with NZ teams? At the least it will stem flow of junior rugby stars to NRL. And whilst on the point SANZAR need work collaboratively NRL is scouting for talent not only in Australia but also New Zealand. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was school boy Rugby star who has taken his chance in NRL because Rugby does not have much in U20 level despite having decent World Cup.
Rodknee
Guest
Ryan Hodson
Rodknee
Guest
And yet they have local talent like giant Jake Ball and let him go to UK and now he is in the WALES squad for 6N, WTF? Disgraceful Force
jeznez
Roar Guru
Actually, didn't we just get it for being front rowers?
Bakkies
Guest
What is really needed which was mentioned in that video - A tight knit Rugby community that wants to fight for the common cause (as mentioned you still get naysayers). - Strong youth development. - Cult heroes like Duke Didier. - Build a culture with people that can fit in. There was already a winning culture in that ACT side prior to the Brumbies so that was a head start. Guys like Coker, Knox (didn't play a game in that 1991 tournament but he was surrounded by outstanding players) McKenzie who came in to that squad to top up the winning culture, were RWC winners that had experienced the ultimate. That's hard to get currently in Aus Rugby. - Us against them attitude. Prove people wrong. The Force already have a backs to the wall culture but that needs to be transferred in to more wins.
I think I got it by being funny. :D
Bakkies
Guest
It wasn't quiet like that. - ACT prior to having it's own union was a part of NSW Country. - There was a strong ACT representative side in motion (had beaten Northern Transvaal, Ireland and NSW just prior to 1996) and young talent like Gregan, Kafer, Roff, Caputo were already in the set up. Already capped Matt O'Connor chose to go to Super League. - Macqueen had a couple of seasons to get the side competitive (there wasn't total support for the Brumbies to come in to the competition) or they would have been turfed out so he recruited the best possible side. He could have easily gone with just local players and finished mid to bottom table. - The ACT had good rugby schools in Daramalan, Marist, Grammar and St Edmunds. - There were ready made stadiums in the ACT that the Brumbies could use (Bruce Stadium, Manuka). If you have time I suggest you watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6e-SejwHNc
RobC
Guest
re Force. I sometimes think, what does a tiny place like Canberra that WA cannot produce? - I guess one advantage is its close proximity to NSW. But most players don't seem to come from Canberra / Sth NSW feeders eg CLL played Rugby in Victoria, BA from Sydney, Mowen++ from Brizzie. - Its not devoid of competing sports eg RL / Raiders. - It started 1890s in WA 40 years before ACT There seems to be two differences: - Brumbies opened their franchise earlier, so they have a first mover advantage. But it doesn't preclude WA from catching up. - I believe the main difference is the coach. Brumbies showed the way by having the right coach. He turned a seemingly nondescript collection of players into a winning team: a ferocious forwards game, great kickers, swift outside backs: doing the basics better than most. Nothing tricky. I'm hoping the similar method by Rebels will yield a positive result. Then maybe the Force can make a similar change.
RobC
Guest
AFL and NRL marketing campaigns are relatively recent. There was no major marketing in the early days, just televised matches, which on a good day were exciting local derbies. The $$$ came in later as the market started to consolidate and expand. Before AFL was the Victoria based VFL which I followed closely from Brisbane before it became nationwide. Before NRL our family would follow the the Brizzie comp, as well as the Sydney comp which was stocked with Qld players. The general population didn't watch Rugby because it wasn't available. And most people who followed RL didn't think anything of Rugby. Until the WBs started winning.
jeznez
Roar Guru
All that wailing and nobody noticed that Ebersohn is not a likely key player- indeed with Holmes at 10 and Godwin at 12 there is every chance Asia's won't be in the starting 15