Great win by the Force though I was worried at first. Some stray thoughts:
• I thought Jonkers dropped his standards observing the law crackdown. To me it was though nothing had changed from last year. The Highlanders were killing the ball all the time in the first half, but that was noticeable only because the Force had all the ball. Later you could see that the Force were just as bad. Let's see how the crackdown is working for the rest of the weekend.
• Mind you, you can't blame the Clan for the legal turnovers they created by being earlier to rucks, having more guys there, having more weight at the critical point and more momentum on the hit. They were as impressive as the Force were not in taking the ball up before oranges. It is well to use a strong guy like Cross to take the ball to the line but not when he doesn't have his mates there for him when he goes to ground – or when he loses it on contact.
• JOC (James O'Connor) – what a player he is becoming. He's one star schoolboy player I reluctantly didn't pick to be a Wallaby as it was odds on that he wouldn't be big enough, and even Super rugby looked a stretch. But isn't he a strong little bastard now? Can't he stay on his feet when it matters and wriggle out of the grip of strong players and carry on? Pity about the goal kicking. He had a Brocker.
• Young Justin Turner is looking the goods isn't he? He's the young Perth scrummie who left school halfway through 2008 after being picked for Oz Schoolboys, to go on a tour by the Force. He got a rookie contract for 2009 but got painful back splints and didn't play a game.
He played in the Sydney comp last year and played well, then he backed himself and accepted a demotion to the Force Academy for 2010. Now the injury to Sheehan has given him a chance. He had the best schoolboy pass I had seen for years but I thought he didn't snipe enough. Not any more – he's got the balance perfect. Needs to bulk up though.
• Had to giggle a bit when I saw Ben McCalman come on and they called it was Sam Wykes, an ethnic Islander. Later Ben had a top run and Charles got the mention. Still, the Kiws do better than the Saffer guys with our blokes names.
• Did anybody get the name of that Force guy who came off the bench and burst through the Clan midfield a couple of times and offloaded a treat? I'd like the Rats to sign him up. He looked a lot like Sam Harris … but it couldn't be.
• Good to see Shep back and healthy, but I wonder what his time is for 40M these days?
• How crap was the Clan defence in the last 10 minutes? They made the Lions and Cheetahs look like Stonewall Jackson.
• The most impressive thing I saw watching the TV was at half time when Pocock took his jersey off. Too bad they don't do Chesty Bond commercials any more.
• Serves the Clan right for losing. Sure the sun was in the eyes of the Force during the first half but they had so little ball and should have used it out wide more. They looked good when they did.
• Isn't Newlands a goose? He must have gone close to being MOTM – for the Force !!!
