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I I am hoping for five wins. I think we can beat the Bulls, both SA games (they are the two bottom teams), the Reds and the Lions. Add in two bonus points and that will give us 44 points, enough for the finals.

Talking about dominant scrims, the Rebels surprised me there. The Force pack are no slouches and are good scrummages. But both Cowan and Longbottom were comprehensively beaten by their opposite number. Where did that come from?

The key point of the game was when the Force elected to take a tap when they won a penalty in the rebels 22, attacked the line for a further 10 or so phases but couldn't break the line, won another penalty and elected to take the three. Big win for the Rebels there.

Force were woeful with ball security. The Rebels monster end us at the ruck. That is what lost us the game. Not really sure where the cheap shots were? There were some tackles in the air (2?) but I think this was more excitement than dirtiness. Really lacking in the backs. A lot of breaks made...

I think Charles and Hansen are catching up with Taf and 2nd hooker position is up for grabs. Moore is first choice by some distance.

The best thing I am seeing now is that the close games are going the Forces way. In previous years they wouldn't have. That Highlanders win is the biggest win this team has ever had.

How good are we!!!!

Lets have a think about the dynamic of the backrow with the possible iterations. I think it safe to say that Hooper and Fardy will get 6 and 7. The 8 we pick needs to compliment them. Fardy is a great hard nosed tight player. Hooper is more a runner and link player rather than your stock...

Here is my 23: Woodcock Moore Franks Whitelock Horwill Fardy McCaw Read Genia Cooper Savea To'omua Smith Smith Folau TPN Robinson ??? what other decent tight heads are there? Retallick Hooper Smith Cruden Dagg I reckon Carter would struggle after not playing rugby for 2 years and I reckon...

Force bandwagon is best bandwagon

All the more reason to keep it going.

Godwin was completely responsible for the poor showing at the U20s World Cup was he? I agree he isn't a 10, but he is more than capable at playing there, like most playmaking 12s.

My head to head wasn't serious.

Beale is still defensively frail at 12. It's all well and good if he scores a try a match but it is kind of redundant if he lets one through each match too.

Hmmm Robinson v Cowan adv Tahs TPN v Charles adv Tahs Ryan v Longbum adv Tahs Douglas v Wykes adv Tahs Skelton v Steenkamp adv Tahs Poitgeiter v Cottrall adv Tahs Hooper v Hodgson adv Tahs Dennis v McCalman adv Tahs Phipps v Matheson adv Tahs Foley v Ebersohn adv Tahs Betham v Badger adv Tahs...

Not wanting to get ahead of things, but are the Western Force now rated as the best team in the competition by a country mile, and we should just about assume that they will dominate the Wallabies when the squad is announced? I think the answer is a resounding yes.

Anyway, for 2015 RWC (assume a 32 man squad?): Props: Slipper, Robinson, Alexander, Kepu, Sio. Hooker: Moore, TPN, Charles Lock: Horwill, Simmons, Douglas, Jones, Fardy (can fill in at 6 too) Backrow: Hooper, Pocock (get better!), McCalman, Cottrell, Palu (assume he will break though)...

Yup. Id be starting To'omua at the moment. I think Godwin is ahead of Lilo, McCabe, Beale and Harris though, as the second choice 12.

Now we just need them all to be fit!

More importantly, Godwin is one of the best defensive players we have (not just in the backline either). He has made something like 70 tackles this season at something like a 90%+ success rate, making 15 odd tackles last weekend. Defensively, Beale is a long way behind and for that reason I...