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'It's a real fight for the finals now': What the Force need to do to make the Super Rugby AU playoffs
Western Force players will treat their final two games like finals fixtures, and they’re well aware bonus points could end up deciding their fate.
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The Force kept their finals hopes alive with a pulsating 16-15 Super Rugby AU win over the Melbourne Rebels at AAMI Park on Friday night.
The result means the Force are now just one point behind the third-placed Rebels with two rounds remaining.
The Force will host the last-placed NSW Waratahs and ladder-leading Queensland Reds in their final two rounds.
The Rebels play the second-placed Brumbies (home) and Waratahs (away).
Hodge will reportedly be out for 10 weeks, so could potentially play for the Wallabies against France later this year. #SuperRugbyAU https://t.co/BHXL9fyQoe
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 12, 2021
If both sides snare just one win each from those games as widely predicted, then bonus points or points differential will decide who snares third spot and a place in the finals.
The Force’s score differential is minus 49 compared to the Rebels’ minus nine.
It means the Force can ill afford to let a bonus point slip when they take on the Waratahs in Perth on Saturday night.
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“It’s a real fight for the finals now. We’re treating every game as it’s a semi or a quarter-final,” Force prop Tom Robertson, who crossed from the Waratahs at the end of last year, said.
“If we don’t win this week, it will be really tough for us to make the finals.
“Obviously we’ve got to get the win first, but the bonus point, we need to get at least one over the next two weeks to secure finals.
“Then it means we don’t have to rely on the Rebels, their results, in order to secure that spot.
“We’re hoping to get a bonus point. But if we get two wins in the next two weeks, then that’s our priority.”
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The Waratahs are winless after six games, but in their first game after coach Rob Penney was sacked, they showed far more fight and class in a 24-22 loss to the Brumbies.
The Force scraped past the Waratahs 20-16 in round three, and Robertson is expecting an even tougher challenge this time around.
“The Waratahs are a lot more dangerous now compared to the first time we played them,” Robertson said.
“They got Jake Gordon back, who is pretty much the source of all their attack.
“I played with Jake for a few years and he’s dynamic and a good ball runner.
“We have to be careful of him. He’s really ignited their backline and they’re playing really well out wide now.”
Comments on RugbyPass
To me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
30 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
30 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
30 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
30 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
30 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
30 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
30 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to commentsI think he is right, SBW is respected in RSA. The guy who never stood up is a worm. Sseems lots of NZ SBW hate, you do the crime do the time.
17 Go to comments