Western Force vs Tonga: World Series Rugby live scores, blog

Well, personally I thought there was too much razzmatazz, too. But then it's not aimed at me; I'm a rugby man, so I'll be going to the game anyway. If the razzmatazz draws in a larger crowd and gets more people interested in the game, then the more the merrier. The stupid "Twiggy" chant wasn't repeated, and I didn't like the drum roll being played during scrums (although partly because they never got the sting at the end at the right time!) or the encouragement of a Mexican wave during play (don't really like that at the cricket, either!). As long as the Dance Cam, or Kiss Cam, or even the music is only played when the ball isn't in play then I've got no problem with it. I did wonder what the bloke popping the question would have done if there hadn't been an injury break in the 2nd half. Surely they should have done it at half-time? (eg, when the magician was setting up or breaking down their stage.)

Went to the Tonga game and enjoyed the rugger, anyone else think that there was to much razzmatazz while the game was being played, with Dance cam kiss cam someone popping the question while the game was in play which was starting to annoy me as I’m there to watch the rugby, personally I think the razzmatazz should be kept before the game and halftime not during play

At Force Field!

Courtesy of WSR there are sides available from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa who would no doubt welcome the opportunity to play elsewhere as long as the host is prepared to pay their expenses.

That tongan 8 was interesting today.

It’s not about staying up to watch those SA games in Aus, it’s that the SA conference and alignment with Europe is what makes super rugby economically viable, as it’s the European and African TV networks that provide the most money. The viewing figures in Australia are nothing short of atrocious and NZ just isn’t a big enough market on its own

Very successful start so far.

Couldn't tell you why Super Rugby sides don't play pacific island teams more often, but the Force often got sides like the Asia Pacific Dragons (basically Barbarian sides from PI and foreign players in Japan) down for pre-season matches. I'd have thought that during the international window there would be no bar to international-free Super Rugby sides playing exhibition matches against anyone (much as the Force are playing the Rebels and Crusaders next month), but there seems little push for it from the traditional SR sides. It'd be awesome if, during the international window, sides like Georgia or Portugal were brought down to play matches. World Rugby should be pushing for that sort of extra exposure for the tier 3 nations.

A really good vibe at the game. Good to see so much support for the Tongan team. Looking forward to Rebels game in 3 wks

The Fiji A and Tonga A teams are the teams names. They are representative sides but not the test team. Just shortened for convenience

Twiggy paid all their expenses.

Why is it that it is taking a collapse of Super rugby in WA to get Aussie teams playing their local rivals in the Pacific? Given the multicultural make up of many australian cities it seems like many people would be more interested to see the state teams competing with the likes of Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa, rather than Japan or Argentina

Sorry to turn you down CH, I don't think my wife would have understood

Crowd figure 16,323

It's a great shame. No kit or jersey sponsor either. Maybe Twiggy can help them with finding a sponsor.

Thank you very much for the call Shakti. I'm overseas so can't see it on TV. Much appreciated, well done.

Thanks for the blog. Sick that the force are back in action