Force v Highlanders at NIB - Round 13

[waiopehu oldboy]

A match involving a Strayan team & no match thread? On Thursday? You blokes are lucky I'm not reporting you to Dismal . Anyhoo, here's the match official & teams info:

Ref Shuhei Kubo
AR1 Ed Martin
AR2 Damon Murphy
TMO Ian Smith

Force

15 Luke Morahan, 14 Semisi Masirewa, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Bill Meakes (captain), 11 Alex Newsome, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Ian Prior, 8 Richard Hardwick, 7 Brynard Stander, 6 Ross Haylett-Petty, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Richie Arnold, 3 Jermaine Ainsley, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Pek Cowan

Substitutes: 16 Anaru Rangi, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Tetera Faulkner, 19 Matt Philip, 20 Lewis Carmichael, 21 Isireli Naisarani, 22 Michael Ruru, 23 James Verity-Amm


Highlanders

15 Matt Faddes, 14 Patrick Osborne, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Richard Buckman, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Marty Banks, 9 Kayne Hammington, 8 Elliott Dixon (captain), 7 Dillon Hunt, 6 Garth Evans, 5 Tom Franklin, 4 Alex Ainley, 3 Siate Tokolahi, 2 Liam Coltman, 1 Daniel Lienert-Brown

Substitutes: 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Aki Seiulu, 18 Guy Millar, 19 Joe Wheeler, 20 Jackson Hemopo, 21 Aaron Smith, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Rob Thompson

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Forecasted to piss down this weekend. That'll be fun in those uncovered members seats!

 

[brokendown]

i just have to step one row back to sit in the covered and mainly empty corporate boxes(now,where is the ARU one?)

 

[todd4]

Not much rain due for Saturday only 1 - 2mm

 

[Micheal]

As mentioned the Force fans have their own forum over at twf.com.au so its not surprising their threads don't get much action.

Few things for this weekend:

+ Mrs. Hodgo has apparently gone on record on Facebook saying that Hodgo isn't injured. Has he fallen out of Wessels preferred 23? Is Wessels implementing some sort of strategy? Whats the go here?

+ Lance is out injured with a hand problem apparently. Grant to continue his form from the last game, or to return to his previous record?

+ Rain should suit the Force so they should be hoping the 1-2mm forecasted increases.

+ Stander isn't an open side flanker so Wessel's plan seems to be to forget about pilfering and instead win rucks and steal ball through big bodies shifting rocks at the ruck. If so, he's picked the players for it and the 6-2 bench should come in handy with Carmichael, Phillip and Naisarani to have a huge impact off the bench.

+ The "6" part of the bench has got me excited, but I'm not so keen on the "2" part. Interesting to have Masirewa starting over Verity-Amm, whose been pretty handy in his Super career thus far.

Anyway, rambling aside, this should be a cracker and if the Force played as they did last week they'll be in with a real shot.

Prediction: my man love for Richard Hardwick to continue growing exponentially and Force by 6.

 

[Melchior]

Wessells playing silly buggers with the back row again. Worked a treat for him last week though.

lots of questions that arise from that team sheet.

has stander ever played 7
is hodgson injured
where is koteka
is hardwick's prefered position 7. why is he not there
has the coach had a look at burton and decided against him

 

[Twoilms]

9 and 10 are a bit of a worry. Fuckin screw it i hope they pump them.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Nipper]

lots of questions that arise from that team sheet.

has stander ever played 7
is hodgson injured
where is koteka
is hardwick's prefered position 7. why is he not there
has the coach had a look at burton and decided against him

I -think- Stander has played 7 earlier in the season.

Wondering where Koteka is myself.

Burton looked sub-par in his two(?) appearances this season.

 

[farva]

Im not too concerned about the lack of a fetcher 7. The modern game has moved passed it. Most of the forwards should be able to fetch now. If you look at the ABs for instance, Coles plays as a mobile back rower who fetches as well as a 7. A back row of Stander, RHP and Hardwick is a very good back row, with Stander good at the loose stuff, RHP to act as a tighthead lock and Hardwick to punch holes in defence with straight running. And then all three are strong defenders who make a ton of tackles and get involved at the breakdown.

 

[ACR]

2 or 4 wtf moments leading up to that try. Pretty lucky no knock on, no forward pass calls. Thought they collapsed the maul earlier though anyway.

 

[Forcefield]

That was fucking bone headed.

 

[Forcefield]

Reminds me of the Sharks game the other week.

 

[Moono75]

Love a wet game

 

[Ash]

Meakes is having a mare tonight.

 

[Ash]

Osbourne scores a 60m try and is rewarded by a sub at 45m.

Pissing down now with the score at 24 - 6. Force have a long way to come back, and losing balls from attacking mauls will not help.

 

[Ash]

Richie Arnold may get a 10 minute rest for a late no arms hit on Banks. Stupid.

 

[Tordah]

elbow to the sternum, or as the comms put it "not much in it", haha

 

[Forcefield]

Soft yellow.

 

[Ash]

Dumb yellow, no reason to do it, and easily could have not bothered.

Clan in again, this game is well past over in the pouring rain, 31 - 6.

 

[Forcefield]

Gotta feel that the knees to Morahan's head there is as deserving of a yellow as Arnold's hit.