Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'The club was on its knees': Force's big scalp a reward for outgoing head coach

Western Force celebrate Hurricanes May 2022

The outgoing Western Force coach and three of their retiring former Test players got their perfect Super Rugby Pacific home send-off, but were ultimately left hoping for a big favour from one of their Australian rivals.

ADVERTISEMENT

The 27-22 win over the Hurricanes at HBF Park on Saturday lifted the Force one place into eighth spot.

However, the ninth-placed Highlanders will regain eighth if they win, draw or take a losing bonus point from Sunday’s away game against Melbourne Rebels, who will finish 10th irrespective of the outcome.

Video Spacer

Aotearoa Rugby Pod | Episode 15

Video Spacer

Aotearoa Rugby Pod | Episode 15

Saturday’s gutsy and stirring win after they trailed 17-6 just before halftime kept the Force’s finals hopes alive.

They finished with a 4-10 record and back-to-back wins for the first time this season, having lost all six of their previous home games.

It was the perfect Perth send off for the quartet of coach Tim Sampson, who is being replaced by Simon Cron, and retiring players Richard Kahui, Jeremy Thrush and Greg Holmes.

Centre Kahui was forced off the field with a head knock in the fifth minute and didn’t return.

“It was a very emotional week and emotional build-up,” Force captain and halfback Ian Prior told Stan Sport after his 100th appearance for the team.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Sammo (Sampson) took this club over (when) it was on its knees and put it back up on its feet, so real credit to him there.

“Obviously the retiring guys, hopefully they get another week, the guys that are moving on.

“We haven’t done what we wanted to do in our home games but we put it together today and that was a really gutsy performance, three games in eight days with travel.”

When the Force were cut from Super Rugby in 2017, the Rebels secured the services of the West Australian team’s coach Dave Wessels and a number of their former players.

Now they will be hoping the Rebels can deny the Highlanders any points.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We’ll be cheering for them tomorrow watching the game and then preparing (for a quarter-final) or having a couple more beers, so go the Rebels,” Prior said.

The eighth-placed team will be away to the ladder-leading Blues in the quarter finals.

The Hurricanes, who finished fifth, were clearly the Force’s biggest scalp of the season.

All of their other wins on the road were achieved against the teams who ultimately finished in the last three spots on the ladder.

Knocks to Kahui and substitute Jack Winchester could be the major fitness concerns for the Force should they advance to the quarter-finals.

ADVERTISEMENT
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

I
IkeaBoy 45 minutes ago
Crusaders outlast fast starting Blues to reach another Super Rugby final

Very considered stuff, JW!


What I think is slippery is that they are essentially red carding based on ‘intent’ which was never really the case. It’s a tough ask to expect a ref to essentially physiologically profile a player, in-game. It should be a minimum at any level of rugby that a player wouldn’t deliberately be reckless or aim for a high degree of danger. Even with the guidance it’s still very subjective for refs. I’m not even sure if a full red has been dished out at test level since the new 20 min card arrived? It looks like they’ve forgotten they can still dish out a straight red.


WR are focused on sanctioning the dangerous act and dealing with it rather than working on removing the act itself. The big task is to remove the risky play rather than being consistent on carding it. It’s probably a coaching issue really and would take a while to bed in and have to work up from the age groups who are starting the game now.


Aki was a great example though. Short and stocky for a centre but he used to tackle high. He got red carded twice for Ireland but worked on it and I don’t think he’s had a problem since. Club or test level.


I agree with the ABs last couple of seasons. I don’t think they tackled any better or worse they just maybe didn’t keep up to speed with the law changes. I remember with Fozzie in the 2022 series, he didn’t even realise that hooking big Ardie in the second test would be a permanent change!


Verdict is still out on the 20 min reds but maybe it takes the next RWC to see if they are used or abused.

17 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Leicester's modern day greats look to cement their legacy knowing sport rarely does fairytale endings Leicester's modern day greats look to cement their legacy knowing sport rarely does fairytale endings
Search