Author: TBH

The Western Force have kept their finals hopes alive tonight with a win against the Reds in Perth. The Match It wasn’t an Australian derby for the ages, this game. There were skill errors, niggle, outright foul play and many penalties at the breakdown, as well as some baffling refereeing at times. To the credit of the Force they started the game a lot better than last weeks debacle against the Blues. In spite of giving away an early three points, they seemed a lot more switched on out there tonight. Nearly everything they should have done and didn’t last…

The Blues travelled West tonight and handed out an absolute hiding to the Force at NIB stadium. The Match This was a one sided contest almost from the first minute. The Blues rocketed out of the gate and stuck three tries on the home side almost before people got comfortable in their seats. The first came from a clever cross field kick to the left wing and a subsequent kick chase from the next phase saw five-eighth West go over. The second came as a result of not one, but two charge downs from returning Force half back Alby Mathewson and…

The Force went down to the Crusaders in Christchurch last night in a fairly scrappy affair. The Match It was always going to be a tough ask for the Force, with a big travel schedule (three games in three countries in 14 days), a mounting injury toll and an away game against of the competitions better teams. Still, that’s the nature of a competition like this and any points from the match would be worth their weight in gold come the pointy end of the season. In the early going the Force were on the back foot and found it…

The Force claimed an important bonus point win in a bizarre game at NIB Stadium tonight. The Match I didn’t hold out much hope for a decent contest or standard of footy tonight, because the weather leading up to (and indeed in the early play) the game was pretty filthy. For a couple of days leading up to the match we’d had some pretty torrential downpours and winds approaching 100km/h lash the city. This doesn’t usually make for a decent spectacle, especially when the Force aren’t a team who run the ball with abandon at the best of times (not…

A seriously undermanned Stormers team knocked off the Force at Newlands overnight. The Match In the lead up to this game I was looking at the injury list the home side has endured this season and it made for startling reading. The team they fielded this weekend bore very little resemblance to the line up that was expected to challenge for the title this year. Accordingly, the Force would have been eyeing this game as winnable and a way to springboard their tilt at finals footy for the first time. It didn’t work at that way at all and the…

The Force outlasted the Bulls in greasy conditions at NIB stadium this evening. The Match If you had an English phrase book in your hand and the words “winning ugly” appeared, I think a photo from tonights game would tell you everything you need to know. It hasn’t rained in about five months in Perth, but tonight it did and pretty consistently too, which effectively killed any chance of this match featuring any attacking footy. You could make a pretty strong argument that this was exactly the kind of game that the Bulls would traditionally relish. They’ve always had a…

The Force made it five wins in a row with a tough win against the Waratahs in Perth tonight. The Match All the lead up to this game suggested that it would be tough, attritional footy and that proved to be the case. With the players out for the Tahs, they certainly lacked some attacking sparkle and the injuries sustained during the game for the Force didn’t help them either. Not that the game lacked any excitement, with that said. The early exchanges were brutal, with two mean packs attempting to smash each other at every available opportunity. The collisions…

In one of the gutsier performances you’d want to see, the Force have knocked off the defending champs in Perth tonight. The Match It was a game that didn’t scale the heights of running rugby or necessarily capture the imagination with dazzling skill, but it did feature some great forward play and the kind of punishing defence that makes you nod your head in respect. It was tight pretty much all night, with neither side stealing a march on the other. Every time one side scored the other seemed to claw their way back to stay in touch. It took a…

In a result that if it were the 5th at Randwick the stewards would be called in, the Force touched up the Rebels in Perth this evening. The Match It’s hard to believe that a team so thoroughly outclassed by the Brumbies last weekend was able to improve by as much as they did and have the game all but over 20 minutes in. All this too, against a team who gave the Cheetahs a bit of a towelling last week. There was dynamism in the forwards, straight running, support play and a willingness to take the game on that…

The Brumbies handily beat an ordinary Force outfit in Perth tonight. The Match It was all about the Brumbies clinical first twenty minutes of the game, when they stuck three tries on the Force and effectively put the game out of reach. All three Brumbies tries were actually pretty similar to each other. They went through the phases, hitting and bending the line with each phase, showing accuracy and urgency at the breakdown. Their constant quick recycling of the ball and good service from the ruck base had the Force defence back pedalling and once the inevitable mismatches were created,…

So I’m fully thawed out and rested after the game last night and here are some observations: Huzzah, we won! I know that doesn’t seem like much of an observation, but at this point of the season and having lost four on the trot, any kind of win is a good one. I think I would be right in saying that this is one of the few times the Wallabies have been in front at half time this year. So many times we’ve been behind and having to chase the game but last night, with the wind behind us, we…

With the finals upon us and the Force now out of the running, it’s time to look back with the official G&GR 2013 Western Force Season Review

The Western Force have finished their 2013 campaign with a win tonight at NIB Stadium. The Match In a scrappy match relatively bereft of highlights, the Force out enthused a strangely poor Brumbies side, who still had plenty to play for. The game started pretty much as it continued, with a skill error from the Brumbies (a kick out on the full). From there we spent what felt like half an hour repacking scrums and free kicks for infringements. In reality it was a few minutes but it was pretty typical of how ugly the first quarter of the game…

Despite resting players against the Lions, the Force have still lost to a depleted Waratahs side in Perth

The British and Irish lions have easily accounted for a less than full strength Western Force side in Perth.

The Force got over the line against the hapless Highlanders

The Western Force have lost another tight one, this time to the Sharks at the NIB Stadium in Perth

Review of the Force vs. Reds match

The Western Force have finally gotten on the board at home in a tight one against the Crusaders

The Melbourne Rebels have again journeyed west and got the chocolates against the Force