It’s onwards and upwards for the Western Force – but only after a few days of stewing over an opportunity lost.
While proud of his trailblazing outfit, coach Tim Sampson couldn’t disguise his despair after the Force bowed out of the Super Rugby AU title race with a tense 21-9 qualifying loss to the Brumbies in Canberra.
Despite being reduced to 14 men for 20 minutes after a red card to winger Toni Pulu after the halftime siren, the Force remained within a converted try of victory until five minutes from full time on Saturday night.
“There’s genuine disappointment there because probably when we reflect on that it was one that we let slip because we didn’t fire too many shots,” Sampson said.
“It’s going to sting, no doubt. I think the guys were pretty flat.
“The disappointment will be there for a few days, no doubt. It will probably hit over the next couple of days.”
Rather than blame Pulu’s dismissal for a no-arms tackle to the head of Brumbies centre Irae Simone for the defeat, Sampson said the resolve the Force showed while playing a man short was “something to take out” of the gritty performance.
“The scoreboard went 5-3 in favour of the Brumbies so that was a good period for us. Unfortunately there at the end it slipped away from us,” Sampson said.
“I don’t think that 20-minute period was a crucial period. It might have sucked a bit of energy out of us but looking at our the guys finished I thought we were in a pretty good spot.
“It shows where this group’s at. There’s a lot of ticker there. They’re a tough bunch. To keep the Brumbies to not too many tries is a bloody good effort.”
Sampson’s cosmopolitan line-up, featuring players from six different countries, was the first Force team in the club’s 16-year history to make a Super Rugby finals series.
Despite falling short of a place in the title decider, the Force are feeling buoyed ahead of the five-week trans-Tasman competition.
They face the Chiefs and Highlanders in Perth in the first two rounds and can’t wait to get stuck into their tournament opener on May 15.
“The competition is starting pretty soon after that so we’re going to have to get back on the horse pretty quickly,” Sampson said.
“It’s fantastic this year that we get to play against the New Zealand teams, which our club hasn’t done for a number of years.
“So we’re excited about our first two games at home. We’re thrilled.”
GusTee
Roar Pro
Absolutely correct!
JRVJ
Roar Rookie
The Force were greatly aided by their Argentinean contingent. I would hope that next year they can bring in some additional former Jags (or new Argentinean players), as it helps younger Western Force players (e.g., having a World Class scrum like Tomás Cubelli on your side has to be wonderful for young WF backs) and it gives an outlet to Argentinean players who were left up the creek without a paddle when the pandemic slayed the old SR and the Jags.
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
The Force are now the 3rd team. The 5th team are the Tahs!
In brief
Guest
Sorry OO, we only let kicker out on Sundays.. now back to your northern village little man!
Ex force fan
Guest
The first thing you want to get right is the culture, then the defence and then as you build combinations the attack will improve. Key to the long term success is the academy side and the progress of local developed players. This latter will take longer to fix but experienced internationals can help us to accelerate the learning curve.
Ex force fan
Guest
I am moaning about stupid media headlines that ignores that the Force player GRR and not SR not the relative strength of NZ franchises... the Force is rebuilding after our team and development pipeline were decimated by a stupid RA decision in 2017. It will take another two years just to get to where we was in 2017 and longer before we will have a realistic chance to win a TT competition. All I ask as supporter is the the team continue to show character with the never die attitude and to improve week after week as we did so far this year.
Mo
Guest
Very good ticker and great effort with a man down and what going into the game I thought an inferior backline. It is disturbing how effective thrush is against Ozzie based packs. Whitelock and Brodie are both better than him. We’ll have a big problem if we can’t get overseas locks home. The counter ruck is also a problem. Strachan should have pushed Wright into touch. You always hit the last widest ball carrier and trust the cover inside you. Carton for that one. Checks blamed Godwin but the 15 was in perfect position for that tackle. Godwin a shot at being good 12 cover for MT.
RahRah
Roar Rookie
Sorry, not prepared to have the required lobotomy to become a league fan.
Tooly
Roar Rookie
Well done Tim and the Barbarians . Now knock the socks off the kiwi’s.
Bodger
Roar Rookie
A 5th team is good and one that can afford to bring in some good international players will keep them competitive and give younger WA players a pathway in their homestate. They did well but hope they can start playing some more attractive rugby as they grow as a team.
Objective Observer
Roar Rookie
As a resident of NSW, I was very annoyed at RA when they cut the Force. Rugby has a good base in WA and all rugby fans in Aus should be very happy to see the WA Force making progress. Given time to build a roster and grass roots rugby - yes we know it exists in WA and is growing well, it will be a great boost to Rugby in Aus. Here’s hoping some rocket scientist in RA (probably from NSW) will not try to destroy it again!
Objective Observer
Roar Rookie
No moaning in the comment. Super rugby NZ has been fairly poor, reflective of a weakened comp from the 3rd place finisher in RWC2019.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Ticker is very underrated!
gatesy
Roar Guru
I really hope that this motley group sticks together, for a while longer, as it is the genesis of a great team culture, going forward.
gatesy
Roar Guru
Only one thing that counts .... there is always next week!
BackInBlack
Guest
You can moan all you want but the reality is all of the Oz teams combined will be lucky to take one NZ scalp in the Trans Tasman series. Fact.
Bodger
Roar Rookie
Defence alone isn’t going to win championships but they nullified a lot that the Brumbies did yesterday which was impressive but not being able to score points themselves is what they need to fix now. Good first season by a this motley group. :-)
Noodles
Roar Rookie
Entirely reasonable and justified comments from the losing coach. But I think they’ll need a bit more in attack when facing the NZ teams.
Ex force fan
Guest
Soon we will hear in the media that it is the first win against NZ opposition in a thousand and somethings days, or a billion milli seconds or something as silly as that... I like the trend we are on, we surely didn’t fire enough shots against the Brumbies in all 3 games we played them this year, however they know that they have been in a game. There is surely a lot of respect for the Force among the other franchises. As long as we improve week after week we will eventually combine guts in defence with combinations and will ask more questions in attack.