Western Force
11
Match Complete
Brumbies
27
| T. Cubelli |  | 75 | ||
| 72 |  | N. Lolesio | ||
| 70 | | I. Fines | ||
| 44 | | N. Lolesio | ||
| 43 | | I. Simone | ||
| 40 |  | N. Lolesio | ||
| I. Prior | | 35 | ||
| 21 | | N. Lolesio | ||
| 20 | | N. Lolesio | ||
| 17 | | N. Lolesio | ||
| I. Prior | | 4 |
| 1 | Tries | 3 | ||
| 0 | Conversions | 3 | ||
| 2 | Penalty Goals | 2 | ||
| 0 | Field Goals | 0 |
The Western Force have put together a team with some serious international experience to face the ACT Brumbies as Super Rugby AU visits Perth for this Round 1 clash. There’s no time to ease into things in this competition, so both teams know a poor performance could ruin their entire tournament. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog starting from 21:55 AEDT on Friday.
There’s been plenty of talk about the Force’s shopping spree over the summer. Wallabies Tevita Kuridrani and Tom Robertson, Pumas Santiago Medrano and Tomás Lezana and Ireland legend Rob Kearney are just some of the impressive names to join the club and these five will all start against the Brumbies.
Their pedigree is impressive, but rugby is a team game all about combinations and players clicking. Fans and pundits alike will want to see how well this new squad has gelled over the offseason and if the experienced players can add value on the pitch as well as in the marketing and merchandise stakes.
When these two teams met last week in Canberra for a trial game, the Force defended incredibly well and they will take a lot of confidence from their ability to keep the Brumbies at bay for long periods of time. They will also have seen in the match review how well they were able to attack down their own left wing – they made plenty of metres attacking down this side again and again and also scored a beautiful try down this channel. The men from WA will want to see if this area can bear fruit now that the result really matters.
For the visiting Brumbies side, there’s a high level of expectation. Last year’s champions are most people’s favourites for this year’s competition as well and it’s easy to see why when you look at the talent across the team.
It will be interesting to see how much they play the game off the scrum-half with the experienced Nic White joining the club. Whilst he’s a talented player, the Brumbies won’t want to be too predictable and allow the Force defence to settle into a good rhythm.
Joining White in the half-backs will be Noah Lolesio, who looked good when he came on in last week’s trial game. He was able to unlock the effective Force defence with several well-placed little kicks that the WA men struggled to deal with.
One great clash to look out for is in the centres where former Brumbie Kuridrani, will go up against Len Ikitau, who has taken both his spot in Canberra and his spot in the Wallabies squad. Much has been written about how Kuridrani had a poor 2020, but he’s still got bucketloads of talent both in attack and defence and with a new setting and a point to prove, this Round 1 clash against his old club would be the perfect time to make a statement.
Prediction
The Force showed last week that they are going to be a very different prospect to last season. There has been a great amount of local support and excitement at Super Rugby coming back to Perth and the ground should be a noisy place for the visiting Brumbies.
However, the Brumbies will have too much firepower in key aspects of the game with their set-piece likely to dominate and give their talented half backs plenty of ball to control the game.
Brumbies by 9.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog starting from 21:55 AEDT on Friday.
Game information
Where: HBF Park, Perth
Date: Friday 19th February, 2021
Kick-off: 21:55 AEDT
Betting: Western Force 2.94, Brumbies 1.40
Squads
Western Force
Robert Kearney, Byron Ralston, Tevita Kuridrani, Kyle Godwin, Marcel Brache, Jono Lance, Ian Prior (c), Brynard Stander, Kane Koteka, Tomas Lezana, Fergus Lee Warner, Jeremy Thrush, Santiago Medrano, Feleti Kaitu’u, Tom Robertson
Replacements: Andrew Ready, Angus Wagner, Greg Holmes, Ryan McCauley, Tim Anstee, Tomas Cubelli, Jake McIntyre, Richard Kahui
Brumbies
Tom Banks, Andy Muirhead, Len Ikitau, Irae Simone, Mack Hansen, Noah Lolesio, Nic White, Pete Samu, Jahrome Brown, Rob Valetini, Cadeyrn Neville, Darcy Swain, Allan Alaalatoa (c), Folau Fainga’a, James Slipper
Replacements: Connal McInerney, Harry Lloyd, Tom Ross, Nick Frost, Tom Cusack, Ryan Lonergan, Reesjan Pasitoa, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa
soapit
Roar Guru
yeah i noticed that the normal stan app doesnt either on android but does on the web app. hopefully get it sorted. watching on catch up skipping resets, injuries etc has been my go to for a few years now.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
I can on my phone. Not with my TV. My older TV doesn’t support the Stan app too well.
Greysy
Roar Rookie
I'm watching the Top League match on Stan right now and it has a 10 second skip forward/back button now.
Richie
Roar Rookie
Don’t be sorry Pogo. I was a halfback so can’t complain :silly:
Mark Richmond
Roar Guru
Worked fine again after I refreshed . :stoked:
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
2014? I wasn’t even born then!!! (Says some annoying kid somewhere)
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Sure but stats do tell part of the story and that's why I'm not going to come down overly hard on the Force for this performance. Totally agree re the lack of bite - Force really struggled to turn the possession and territory into points and too often the times when they failed to score whilst being in the red zone were quickly followed by double penalties that allowed the Brumbies to exit and then set up attacking situations without having to do the hard work of gaining 60m with ball in hand. I think the refs in both games were very strict on a few key areas - the offside line was policed very carefully in Perth and Brisbane with all teams getting pinged. Apparently the story is that the refs are deliberately going hard on this issue for the opening rounds with the hope that it teaches teams a lesson and gets them back behind the line. The NRL did the same thing a couple of seasons ago and it worked quite well with the defences behaving themselves from round 3/4 onwards. I reckon the Force should give Jake McIntyre more game time - he's an exciting player who can make things happen and I think the Force need that unknown, creative flair to try and unlock defences.
Pogo
Roar Rookie
Sorry but I thought the ref was good. Even on the 50;50 ones I didn’t agree with he gave clear instructions to the players as to why and I loved it when he told Nic white to stop his yapping.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
And apparently a 2014 TV is too old. Quite annoying to have to use an old phone and screen mirror. I had to do the same with Kayo but was hoping Stan would see and end to that.
soapit
Roar Guru
ok so used te stan sport app and it seems a bit budget at this point. - no skip forward/back 10 sec button (a big deal for me watching rugby) - no resume from last watched (kayo doesnt either but standard on other streaming apps) - when you manually scroll forward through the game the time doesnt change as you move so you have to guess how far youve gone. thought kayo app had plenty of room for improvement but stan is a bit worse at this point.
Richie
Roar Rookie
Stats don’t always tell the true story. Like last year the brumbies were often the far superior team however the score board didn’t show it. I was disappointed with the Forces lack of bite in attack. The ref was way too involved. He was trying to impress with his knowledge of the rules.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
I reckon that a team that is able to achieve 58% possession and 58% territory against the current champions whilst winning 100% of their own set pieces and stealing one line from the opposition and completing 87% of their own tackles doesn't deserve to be torn to shreds. The Force did some things well considering the players they've got and the fact that they were up against the best team in the comp. They struggled to have an attacking edge and turn possession and territory into points as I pointed out and they let the Brumbies off the hook with back to back penalties a number of occasions. Will they win the comp? Not a chance. Will they cause other teams like the Rebels and Tahs some troubles - I reckon so.
Richie
Roar Rookie
You are way to kind to the Force Oliver, they were never in it and the ref was the major influence in how much the brumbies won by. He had a shocker!
Trytime
Guest
What were youwatching? Good game??? That was a game that was absolutely dismal. Poor kicking poor handling. The only game the force may possibly win will be against Waratahs. And if they don’t then they worse than last year. Force are old and slow and are only at the force to pick up a pay cheque.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
MATCH REPORT The ACT Brumbies have started the 2021 season with a win as they took down the Western Force 27 points to 11 in Perth. The Force do have plenty to be pleased about but they will feel that they could have been so much closer to the Brumbies if not even challenging for the win if they had done a few things better in the moment. The Force started well and were ahead on the scoreboard after just 4 minutes as Prior slotted a shot at goal. They were playing with good energy and accuracy and not letting the Brumbies settle into any rhythm early on. Even though the Brumbies struck back with 10 points from Noah Lolesio, the Force were very much still in the game. They were controlling big periods of possession and spending a lot of time in the Brumbies half. However when it came down to it they were their own worst enemy at key points. About three or four time in the game the home side gave away two penalties in quick succession and gifted the Brumbies not only an escape from their own 22 but then a chance to go on the attack with the second penalty. At first it would have been frustrating but once it got repeated a couple of times it would have been quite soul destroying for the home side. All their hard work to get in the red zone and put pressure on the Brumbies was undone by their own poor discipline and control. There was plenty of talk about the international experience that had flown into Perth and Rob Kearney in particular stood out. He was solid under the many high balls that the Brumbies put up and also put in a couple of stunning kicks that got the Force out of tricky situations. In the end the Force played well in many parts of the game and many parts of the field, but when it counted they couldn't turn it into points. Their pack performed well against arguably the best pack in the competition and a number of times stopped the famous Brumbies rolling maul. But they never really got the upper hand over the Brumbies in the loose and the 15 turnovers that the Force conceded really killed off any momentum they were able to generate. The Brumbies for their part looked pretty good. They didn't really need to find top gear at any point and will know that they need to sharpen up if they are going to retain the title. But the half pack pairing of Nic White and Noah Lolesio looked good and the young fly half is starting to play with real confidence, flair and control. It was also exciting to see the centre pairing of Len Ikitau and Irae Simone showing signs that they could be a devastating combination this series. Much was made of the clash between former Brumbie Tevita Kuridrani and the younger Ikitau and the youngster will feel that he got the better of the contest this time. The Brumbies win was not as dramatic as the Reds win over the Tahs earlier in the day where the Queensland men ran the Tahs off the pitch with 3 first half tries, but instead they squeezed the life out of the Force over the full 80 minutes. They picked up points in little pockets that just kept taking them further and further away from the Force. You felt as though the Force were always in it but in reality the Brumbies were comfortably in control. The Force will be hard to beat this season for sure but they need to find an attacking edge that will turn them from a team that is hard to beat, into one that is likely to win in future matches. The Brumbies still have plenty of room for improvement but a good away win in round one is a great start to a title defence.
Ex force fan
Guest
Too many stupid penalties that relieved the pressure as soon as the Force started to built pressure. I think we should start with Cubelli and neither 10 looked good. Lack of speed in midfield costed us two tries. Not sure how we will score tries if we play like this...
Bobby
Roar Rookie
Good game- enjoyed it !
Oliver Matthews
Expert
FULL TIME!!! Force: 11 Brumbies: 27 The Brumbies have kicked off the defence of their title with a win over the Western Force in Perth. There were lots of positive for the home side but they will feel so frustrated with themselves for the number of times they gave possession and territory away to the organised Brumbies. The Brumbies looked comfortable for a lot of that game but they never really got into top gear and they will want to see progress in Round 2!
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Force have it and the backs are joining the driving maul - can they get it over!??!? It's close but the Brumbies have turned it over and the whistle goes!!! Force: 11 Brumbies: 27 Time: 83:00
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Force push their way up to the 22 - have they got the legs to keep going? They've got another advantage - they try the chip ahead but it comes to nothing and so they will go to touch. Force: 11 Brumbies: 27 Time: 83:00