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Joined February 2016
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Sadly, I was.
Having seen how Eddie’s England regressed over the past couple of years, I was never confident that he could turn Australia around.
The horror five minutes that put Wallabies' World Cup on life support as Eddie's huge 10 call falls flat
Agreed. However, the excuse from Palmer that the pack had 44 caps between them is something which the coaches should take the blame for; they are the ones who chose the side, knowing that if it was close in the final minutes and the “finishers” were on, it would be an inexperienced pack up against the Georgians, who’s forward pack has historically been a strength.
Revealed: The bloody ear that has proved a Rugby World Cup headache as Wallabies seek lineout fix
He was always ready to add a bit of a wham into the tackle. A young gun, but someone you could put your faith in!
Wallabies player ratings: Wright's rocks and diamonds nature leave 15 jersey open for RWC, winger's perfect night
Coleman and Hoskins are ex-Force boys – would love for them to come back and boost our stocks for next season. Locks we’re not doing badly for (but Coleman would be an upgrade), but Hoskins especially as we need more front-rowers and Hoskins is a Perth boy.
Rugby News: Foketi's new deal, All Black off to France, more financial chaos in UK as giants suspended
Quality, but lacking in match fitness yet. Mind you, under Cron players coming back from injury have seemed better prepared for playing at full match speed than has been the case for some previous Force coaches!
SRP Round 14 teams: Wallabies boost as Rodda returns, Test prop's ACL blow, Reds boost as Kiwi star ruled out
Fines is blinding fast when he spots a gap, and he’s both quick over the first 5 steps to hit the gap, and then has a decent top speed he can accelerate to. If he hadn’t turned into such a decent 9 then he’d still be a useful utility player (and might be worth a RWC spot for that reason alone!)
SRP Round 14 teams: Wallabies boost as Rodda returns, Test prop's ACL blow, Reds boost as Kiwi star ruled out
Bo’s had a few games, but I think he’s struggling to make that step up to the next level. Still young (23) and a big body, but he’s part of a group of young props the Force have and he’s not standing out among his peers at the moment.
SRP Round 14 teams: Wallabies boost as Rodda returns, Test prop's ACL blow, Reds boost as Kiwi star ruled out
I don’t know the answer to that, but there have been games where, for instance, the Reds haven’t started with both Wilson and McReight in the back-row (I don’t know if this was due to injuries, though). So it may be that other teams have rested Wallabies, but did it for individual players rather than as a block and it wasn’t as obvious.
'No excuses': Force snap 14-match, 10-year losing streak against Brumbies in hammer blow to top two hopes
Agree that Tua’s tackle was fairly innocuous, but it was *technically* a swinging arm, and earlier in the season the Force had a man given a yellow for a similar tackle, which the TMO then upgraded to a red on the night. During the week, the card was subsequently downgraded back to a yellow! Consistency from the refs would be nice!
'No excuses': Force snap 14-match, 10-year losing streak against Brumbies in hammer blow to top two hopes
“Not only did it leave them precariously in sixth spot with two difficult away fixtures to follow, it meant that Thorn didn’t get the fairytale finish at Suncorp Stadium he craved.”
Aren’t the Reds 7th?
'Put it all out there': Reds' finals hopes hanging by a thread as Barrett injured in Blues win
By “back three”, JF might have meant the 11, 14 & 15 for the Force, but even then, they’re not particularly old. Pulu might be 33, but Mataele’s 26 and Tiatia’s 27 (although he does look older!)
Exclusive: Lee Warner to join Wallabies duo at Tahs, star forward to return to Japan
The cameramen/soundmen have to get better at going to them and turning the microphones on, as pretty much everyone not in the shed was just bemused by them!
But communal singing might be what we need to bring some atmosphere back.
COMPLETE SRP Rd 13 teams: Reds young gun misses debut over discipline issue, Philip back for Rebels
So you didn’t see him in the NRC then? Tried being an enforcer when he really didn’t have the nous or ability yet.
COMPLETE SRP Rd 13 teams: Reds young gun misses debut over discipline issue, Philip back for Rebels
Usually, even with 10 to go when we are ahead, we still believe the Force can somehow snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I think last week was the first time I didn’t feel that!
COMPLETE SRP Rd 13 teams: Reds young gun misses debut over discipline issue, Philip back for Rebels
“There’s no ex front rowers that are running around refereeing.”
There used to be an English ref called Tony Spreadbury who was a hooker before becoming a ref; he was famous for his talks to the players (think Nigel Owens before Owens was known for it!). One of my favourite memories is of him pulling the two front rows to one side and saying: “You lot know what you are doing; I know what you lot are doing. Stop it!”
'Get rid of the nines': Top ref's radical scrum proposal that's baffled Wallabies hooker
Simpson was signed as an injury replacement, so almost certainly will only have a contract for the remainder of this season. He only became available because Worcester went to the wall.
Whether the Force can offer Simpson enough money to keep him, especially with both White and Fines-Leleiwasa around (I’m assuming Prior will be let go) when competing with the European sides and possibly Japan and America too, I doubt. The Force have to stay within the salary cap, too!
'World class': White's bombshell move to Super Rugby rival confirmed
Also: “the Force are missing Test front-rowers Tom Robertson, Folau Fainga’a and Izack Rodda“.
Not sure when Rodda last played front row. Wiki reckons he may have played prop as a junior when playing league.
'Outclassed in every facet': Crusaders belt Western Force in reality check as set-piece dismantled
Unlikely is optimistic.
“Yes, but million to one chances work out 9 times out of 10!” T. Pratchett
'Put a shoulder through someone': Debutant's wild ride from Shute Shield to No.10 vs Crusaders
Thrush and Holmes are Academy coaches. Last I heard Kahui was coaching Bayswater. Longbottom came back as he’s a Perth boy.
Kearney, I’ll give you. He appears to be playing Gaelic Football now!
Prodigal's return: O'Connor eyes remarkable move back to Force as Wallabies young gun stays put at Reds
Originally, to allow the Waratahs to have an entire squad of Wallabies and still meet the salary cap. 😛
Although things have changed with respect to the relative strengths of the sides in the last 10 years.
Revealed: Star Wallaby could be forced to leave Brumbies as Rugby Australia's belt tightens
A longer season would certainly help, but also year-round access to the same facilities as the men’s Super Rugby sides (skills and fitness coaches, gyms, dieticians, etc).
A little bit of support to motivated amateur players goes a heck of a long way to helping maintain their standards (as anyone who saw the improvement in club players who got a chance in the NRC can testify!)
But 5 games a year isn’t enough to really improve players; good players will move to league or AFLW where at least they get 9-10 games a year (still not really enough!)
Five rounds are just not enough for the Super W competition, but now it's time for the semi-finals
Four games against the Cheetahs! They’ll know each other very well after that.
The Force, Rebels, and Waratahs have six weeks to break losing habits with the finals still in reach
Yeah, two in South Africa, two in Perth, but I’ve not seen the home games opponent(s) confirmed.
The announcement said that they can’t play the September games at NiB because of the Women’s World Cup, but that finishes 20th August, and the last match at NiB is 3rd August, so that *shouldn’t* affect it.
The Force, Rebels, and Waratahs have six weeks to break losing habits with the finals still in reach
The Force have organised a trip to South Africa in August to play the Cheetahs (twice, I believe) and a couple of home games in September. Not sure who, but someone mentioned Montpellier (possibly because we share a sponsor!)
The Force, Rebels, and Waratahs have six weeks to break losing habits with the finals still in reach
“1. “They are one of the teams that has to travel the most,”
To be absolutely clear – they are the team that has travels the most by a country mile.”
To be fair, Fiji might give us a run at that unwanted record these days, but having to travel 4-5 hours or more each way for even a “local derby” does put more strain on the players and reduces the time available to recover/recuperate/plan for the next game.
Pressure Points: Cron has his work cut out to make the west a Force in Super Rugby