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Force recruit makes playoff 'promise' ahead of new season
Western Force recruit Chase Tiatia has vowed to supporters that the team will “definitely” qualify for the playoffs in Super Rugby Pacific this season.
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The Force fell agonisingly short of a playoff berth last season, having been pipped in the race for eighth place by the Highlanders.
Instead, the Western Australian side finished the regular season in ninth place – having missed out on the next stage by points difference.
But there’s hope.
While finals football has eluded the Force, who have failed to qualify for the playoffs when New Zealand teams are involved, this might finally be their year.
Elusive outside back Tiatia has encouraged Force fans to dream big ahead of the new campaign, as the team look to end their playoff drought in 2023.
“The ultimate goal is always to win a championship,” Tiatia told RugbyPass.
“It just helps (if I) share my knowledge as an old fella, we get all the old fellas to bring the young boys up to speed and let them express themselves.
“We’ll definitely be in the playoffs this year.
“From the management, coaching staff, physios, doctors, all the way through to our academy boys coming through, they’ve put a good template in place and the boys are working really hard to achieve the goals that they want to achieve this year.
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“That’s a promise for the people in Perth.”
Tiatia played Super Rugby for the Chiefs and Hurricanes in New Zealand, and also starred for Wellington, Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay in the NPC.
But after a couple of seasons back in Hamilton, Tiatia said the “writing was on the wall” for him at the Chiefs.
With plenty of talented players coming through the ranks, and with Damian McKenzie returning from a stint in Japan, Tiatia knew he’d have to look elsewhere.
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But he didn’t want to play for any other New Zealand sides.
Force assistant coach Mark Ozich approached Tiatia about an opportunity in Western Australia; a chance he was clearly excited to make the most of.
“I’m pretty used to it, I actually quite enjoy it. I get quite bored if I’m staying in the same place. I like constant change, it helps me grow,” he added.
“I’ve moved around NPC teams, I’ve moved around Super teams, and I feel like my game is just getting better and better.
“There’s different ways of playing rugby and it’s awesome to learn different ways to see the game.”
Tiatia is one of a number of new recruits at the Force this season, including Wallaby Folau Fainga’a and former Reds midfielder Hamish Stewart.
The Force have a destructive forward pack at their disposal this season, and also have one of the most exciting backlines in Australia.
“There’s quite a lot of new guys in this Force team, not from Perth. We’ve all had to stick with each other, we don’t really have too much else outside of the team.
“We’re still trying to find our feet around the city so we’ve developed pretty deep connections pretty fast which I think will help when we get on the rugby field and starting playing for each other.
“Everyone trains during the week, every Super Rugby team trains throughout the week, so it’s that stuff you do outside of training that’s going to help you get better.
“You actually want to play for people that you love and I’m really starting to love these boys. It’s like nine hours from home back to NZ… we are a family over here.”
The opening round of Super Rugby Pacific is just over one week away, with the champion Crusaders set to kick things off against the Chiefs in Hamilton.
As for the Force, they’ll begin their season against the Melbourne Rebels on February 25.
Comments on RugbyPass
Kok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 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
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 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.
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