Author: Brendan Hill

When is an apology not an apology? When it is court ordered. Remember when you were young and you would fight with your sibling, then your Mum or Dad would intervene and make you apologise? That is kind of what today’s joint press statement by Rugby Australia and Israel Folau felt like. I can understand why this left a bad taste in many people’s mouths, no matter which side of the dispute you are on, this result felt quite unsatisfactory. This whole drawn out saga has seen even further division into a pretty fractured rugby landscape over the last couple…

Cameron Clyne has decided that he has finally done enough for/to Australian Rugby and will not seek re-election as chairman at the Rugby Australia AGM in March next year. During his announcement he highlighted his many achievements as chairman and sought to indicate that his tenure has been positive overall for rugby in Australia. I am sorry Mr Clyne, but I respectfully disagree. “Notwithstanding the very painful decision to remove the Western Force from the Super Rugby competition and the mixed results of the Wallabies in recent years, ” This statement, for me, sums up Clyne. He has taken the…

The NRC is a wonderful product. It is fast, exciting, innovative and is gaining the support of both players and fans year on year. The NRC is gaining traction and momentum, it is time to take it to the next level. The NRC represents opportunity. Opportunity for club players to step up and mix it with more seasoned professionals in the hope of becoming one themselves. Opportunity for fringe Wallabies to keep playing and showcasing themselves at a high level when the main squad is on international duty. Opportunity for coaches and backroom staff to prove themselves at a higher…

The battle for the toast rack 2019 took place on a beautiful sunny day in Perth Western Australia where the Western Force hosted the Canberra Vikings at their fortress like home ground, affectionately known as “The Library”. Both sides can count themselves lucky to be in the final at all, after two tight and tense semifinals the week before, with the Force holding off a fast finishing Brisbane City side and the Vikings finishing fast themselves to overrun the Fijian Drua. An interesting side note to the final was the pledge by Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest to donate $100k to Telethon…

Brisbane City returned to Perth for the second time this NRC season, eager to avenge the tight fought 2 point loss they suffered way back in round 1. This time of course, instead of competition points and pride, there was a spot in next weeks grand final up for grabs. The Force came into the match as minor premiers, earning the right to host their first ever semi-final at the home ground where they are yet to drop a game this year. It was a tough and tight first half, with the Force getting on the board first through a…

Brisbane City travelled to Perth looking to move into the top 4 by become the first visiting side this year to come away with a win west of the Nullabor. The Western Force for their part knew that a win would secure them a home semi-final for the first time in the history of the NRC. The game kicked off at a frantic pace, with the Force looking well on top early. Some sloppy handling and loose passing prevented them from putting any points on the board however and it was only a matter of time before momentum turned and…

It is hard to believe that a week has passed already, this World Cup is just flying by. After the smorgasbord that was last weekend, we were supposed to calm down into a few one-sided games were the favourite eased comfortably through, nobody told Uraguay though! For anyone that might have missed it, here is how the weeks games went down. Wales 43 def Georgia 14 Wales were determined not to start slowly like some of the other tier 1 nations have done so far this tournament and exploded out of the blocks with an irresistible first 20 minutes that…

Rugby tragics the world over are putting their lives on hold over the next 6 weeks to live and breathe everything Rugby World Cup 2019. But for a moment, let suppose that you are a casual rugby fan, who has (god forbid) a life outside of rugby. A life that cannot be dismissed to watch Namibia play Italy. How are you to keep abreast of the various developments across all four pools? Fear not, for I pledge to sacrifice my time to give you a condensed update each few days of how the games are unfolding across the tournament and…

The Canberra Vikings sent a strong side to Perth to take on the as yet undefeated Force in an attempt to improve their position in a crowded ladder. There were no less than 5 capped Wallabies in the Vikings starting side with 3 of those in a strong pack flush with Brumbies. The Match It was the Force however who managed to land the first blow through an intercept try to emerging star Byronn Ralston, this week playing outside centre. Some good work by the Force forwards then resulted in the second with Jeremy Thrush proving hard to tackle as…

The third round of the NRC 2019 finished with what has become a bit of a grudge match between the Western Force and the Melbourne Rising in Perth. The teams came into the round with polar opposite form with Rising yet to notch a win and the Force two from two and keen to keep their run going. It looked promising for the Force when they crossed the chalk in the fourth minute of the game for the opening try in the corner, but an almost immediate reply from the Rising let them know that they were in for a…

A wonderfully clear warm day greeted the visiting Queensland Country side as they visited Perth to get their 2019 NRC campaign underway against the Western Force. The Force were out for revenge against the Queenslanders, having been bested the last time the two teams met, but it was Country who managed to put the first points on the board with a try to winger Joey Fittock. The Force answered almost immediately with a try to Heath Tessman off the back of a well executed rolling maul. This set the tone for the day, with the teams trading tries each way…

This week saw the Sydney Rays travel across the country to attempt to win the Horan-Little shield off the current holders, the Western Force in Perth. A wonderful warm and clear day greeted them and the Rays jumped out of the blocks with all of the early running, trapping the Force deep in their own half and coming away with the first points of the match with an unconverted try. When the Rays added to the score with a penalty to go 8-0 up with a one man advantage courtesy of Jack McGregors attempted intercept being ruled a deliberate knock-down,…

The Western Force hosted the Panasonic Wild Knights for the seventh and last of the World Series Rugby exhibition matches for 2018 and both teams seemed intent on living up to the title as the crowd was treated to a wonderful exhibition of scintillating rugby for the entire 80 minutes. In what has been a bit of a trademark for them throughout the WSR matches, the Force got the first try early on, though not before the Wild Knights had opened the scoring through a penalty goal. The Wild Knights then opened their try-scoring account for the night in the…

Game 5 of World series Rugby saw Apia Samoa travel to the West to face the Force. Perth turned on some real rugby weather for the visiting Samoans, with driving rain and wind worthy of Canberra keeping the majority of the crowd tucked up underneath the stadium. The weather couldn’t stop the festivities though, with both the rousing Aboriginal “welcome to country” before the game in honour of Naidoc week and the Samoan dancers at half-time putting on a wonderful show that was much appreciated. The players too were in a mood to entertain and were unafraid to spread the…

You can always tell when the Crusaders are in town. There is an atmosphere in the crowd that just doesn’t seem to be there for any other opponent. There was certainly a buzz at NIB as 14,259 fans watched the Crusaders team perform a Haka, answered in turn by the Western Forces Aboriginal war dance. The match got underway and the Force were aggressive from the start, fully aware of the size of the challenge ahead of them. It seemed almost inevitable that the first proper possession the Crusaders had for the night turned into the first Power Try of…

The Melbourne Rebels became the first Super Rugby side to travel west over the Nullabor and challenge the World Series Rugby foundation team, the Western Force. The players and fans were hoping for good conditions and fast exciting rugby, so of course the skies opened up and the intermittent squalls threatened to negate any chance of a free-flowing end to end battle. Some-one forgot to tell the players this as both teams managed to keep a frenetic pace for the whole game and where still throwing it around right up until the final whistle. The game started a bit sloppy…

The old and the new clash this weekend in the first ever meeting between a Super rugby side and a team from World Series Rugby. These teams are respectively the Melbourne Rebels and the Western Force, the two sides affected so deeply by the Super Rugby cull events of 2017. It was the Western Force who eventually suffered deepest, cast aside from the Australian conference, with a large number of their players heading East, the lion’s share of these taking up contracts with the Rebels. This included the entire coaching team headed up by David Wessels. On the back of…

Game 2 of World Series Rugby included a fantastic bonus today as the crowd got another chance to watch the Western Force Women’s side. Fresh from the recent Super W series the Force tookk on the Women’s side from Hong Kong in the curtain raiser. The Hong Kong side put on the pressure early and managed to go over for an early try before the Force managed to hit back and go ahead with a couple of good forwards tries. One more before half-time helped the Force open up a small lead going into the break 15-5 up after a tough…

It was a beautiful night for rugby in Perth as the reborn Western Force ran out in front of a capacity crowd to face a Fiji team full of talent looking to push for places in the world cup squad later this year. The participation had been building all day and the mood was already jubilant heading into the ground. By the time the pregame entertainment featuring Wolfmother, dance troupes, fireworks and skydiving mascots had subsided the crowd was at fever pitch and absolutely exploded as the Western Force finally returned to the playing field. The Fijian haka was answered…

There is a palpable excitement in the air out West today as we get ready for the return of our beloved Western Force. World Series Rugby kicks off today with the Western Force hosting the Fiji Warriors. I can’t wait! This day seemed no more than a fanciful dream just a few short months ago when we all gathered together and heard ‘Twiggy’ declare his intent to keep the Force alive, whatever it took, even if that meant creating our very own competition. At that point we still held out hope that we would be able to remain in Super…