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Rookie coach Simon Cron led the Western Force to a 34-27 win over Melbourne Rebels, thanks to a match winning try from a player who made an emotional farewell at the end of last season.
Lock Jeremy Thrush had retired at the end of 2022 and started a coaching career at the Force Academy. But he was surprisingly brought back into the fold and scored the decisive try nine minutes from the finish. A superb comeback win was just the second time the Force have won the opening game of the season.
The Force suffered a set back before kick off when Folau Fainga’a winger Manasa Mataele were late withdrawals while Feleti Kaitu’u went off injured late in the first half.
Former Tah Tom Horton was handed a surprise call-up in round one when Fainga’a was ruled out, and the surprises continued with 37-year-old lock Thrush coming out of retirement to sit on the bench in the wake of Izack Rodda’s injury.
“It’s a bit of a strange one really,” said Thrush. “I got a tap on the shoulder at the start of the week to see if I was keen to have a crack at coming out of retirement and playing.
“I thought why not put the boots back on and have a bit of fun with the boys. It was pretty enjoyable.”
He laughed that it was “an extreme way to get out of pre-season, retiring and coming back, round one.”
Thrush came in off one week of training. “It goes to show that the strength and conditioning teams we have in professional teams might not be needed any more the way I went today!”
Asked if he was committed for the season, Thrush dodged the question. “Week by week, day by day, I’ll see how I get up tomorrow morning.”
Jeremy Thrush of the Force looks on during the round one Super Rugby Pacific match between Western Force and Melbourne Rebels at HBF Park, on February 25, 2023, in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
The hosts lacked cohesion early and despite the weight of possession struggled for meaningful field position. New captain Michael Wells, transplanted from the leadership of the Rebels last season, had a promising burst down the right flank before he was brutally stopped by Monty Ioane, the impressive Italy winger jolting the ball loose with his strong hit.
Reece Hodge’s penalty had put the Rebels into a second minute lead and then Carter Gordon – his flowing mullet the worst haircut we’ve seen in Super Rugby since Jordan Petaia’s corn rows two hours earlier – stepped up and seized on a delayed pass from Force No.9 Ian Prior to race away and score the game’s first try.
The conversation around who is Australia’s long term No.10 is an intriguing one and Gordon, 22, has put himself right in it.
Tane Edmed, Jack Debreczeni, Tom Lynagh and Noah Lolesio have carried the weight of the No.10 jersey for their teams this weekend. Gordon might just have been the best of the bunch.
On his Eddie podcast this week, Wallabies coach Jones was asked who he’d be keeping a close eye on this weekend.
“I’ll be paying attention to players that play well. Players select themselves, we don’t select them,” Jones insisted.
“I don’t go to the ground looking particularly for a player to watch. I expect the player to capture my attention and say, ‘you’d be stupid if you don’t pick me’.”
Gordon wasn’t the only one to catch the eye and his partnership with halves partner Ryan Louwrens (biceps the size of bowling balls) showed plenty of promise, although Lowrens was pinged under the new law variations when he dithered at the back of a ruck. It’s not too early to declare the efforts to speed up the game a resounding success across the opening round.
The outstanding player of the first half was Richard Hardwick. The Rebels’ No.8 who won two Wallabies caps back in 2017 and is unlikely to add to them, had four turnovers in the opening 40 minutes, soaking the ball off his opposition every time they ventured near him.
Robertson, for the Force, and Brad Wilkin, for the Rebels grabbed first half tries with determined drives close to the line as the visitors went to the break up 24-13, and afterwards there was a return to action for Pone Fa’amausili.
Chase Tiatia of the Force gets tackled by Nick Jooste of the Rebels during the round one Super Rugby Pacific match between Western Force and Melbourne Rebels at HBF Park, on February 25, 2023, in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Jones might have been the other side of the country in Townsville, but he would have felt the earth shake with one monstrous Fa’amausili hit.
The Rebels scrum was giving the Force pack a torrid time, although Tom Robertson and Santiago Medrano slowly got a foothold in the up front battle and te tide began to swing.
Cron was upset with his team’s execution, and called for patience, when interviewed at halftime and he got the reaction he was after four minutes into the second half as Tom Horton crossed for a try. That cut the margin and then his second put the Force in front for the first time with 63 minutes gone.
Hodge banged over a long range goal to level it at 27-27 but with nine minutes later Thrush surged over. The Rebels came hard but the Force pack forced two significant turnovers. They were hanging on but good value for their win.
Wilkin, the Australia A forward who has taken over the Rebels captaincy from Wells, suggested the team had mindset issues to resolve.
“It’s a disappointing result. We started off alright in the first half and the Force just strangled us,” Wilkin said.
“A lot of our things that we could control we just didn’t control and execute. Extremely frustrating. We could have really put the nail in the coffin early in that second half and we didn’t. We couldn’t exit our own half and put ourselves under pressure.
“Think it’s a bit of a mindset thing for us. So we’ve we’ve done it plenty of times on the training paddock so you know firstly there is always going to be a little bit of process. So that’s just a bit of a mindset there around exiting and being positive with that.”