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Kurtley Beale's Force send hapless Crusaders to Super Rugby bottom
The Western Force have heaped more pain on the Crusaders and dragged themselves off the bottom of the Super Rugby Pacific ladder with a potentially season-turning 37-15 bonus-point victory over the fallen champions in Perth.
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Former Wallabies star Kurtley Beale made a triumphant debut for the WA franchise in his first Super Rugby outing since 2020 as the Force notched their first win over the Crusaders in more than a decade.
The momentous 37-15 victory in the bottom-of-the-table encounter at HBF Park on Saturday night reignited the Force’s finals hopes after a one-from-seven start to the season and left the Crusaders’ title defence in tatters.
The most prolific champions in Super history with a dozen titles since the competition’s inception in 1996, the Crusaders now face the ignominy of going from winners to wooden spooners after a disastrous start to their 2024 campaign.
In what would have been unthinkable before the season kicked off, the Crusaders are now dead last after winning only one of their first eight games.
It’s an alarming scenario for embattled coach Rob Penney, who three years ago presided over the opening five games of the NSW Waratahs’ historic first-ever winless season.
While Penney must be stressing, Force coach Simon Cron is plotting a path to the finals after his side moved to within a victory of the top eight with their first success over the Crusaders since 2013.
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Chase Tiatia goes over for a try as the Western Force power to a convincing win over the Crusaders. (HANDOUT/Western Force)
And they did it despite spending 10 minutes of the first half a man down following the sin-binning of flanker Carlo Tizzano.
Wallabies World Cup halfback Nic White was unable to contain his excitement for Beale, who was front and centre in the Force’s win in his first Super match in almost four years.
On debut for the Force after being cleared of sexual assault charges, the 35-year-old one-time world player of the year nominee was brilliant at fullback.
“His communication is phenomenal,” White said.
“Right from the first training session to this game, it’s just his guidance is helping Donno (five-eighth Ben Donaldson), helping our centres.
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“Having a gut like that, eh?”
Jubilant Force coach Cron, a former assistant at the NSW Waratahs, said he was stoked about Beale answering his SOS call last week.
“KB and I go back a little bit,” Cron said.
“And when I gave him the phone call, it was a pretty easy conversation and he jumped on the plane with Maddy, his wife, and their son.
“Watching him at training on Thursday, he just glides, his timing.
“But also what he gives to our boys is from the back three. It gives some experience, and it gives them some chat.
“So he helps Hamish (Stewart). He helps Donno (Ben Donaldson). He helps chase on the edge.
“I just don’t think you can underestimate what he does with his voice.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Less modern South African males predictably triggered.
10 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
78 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
78 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
10 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
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