This coming Saturday night sees two teams trying to snap out of a slump. The Force have only the solitary win to show for their efforts in going down in a number of tight ones and the Reds are coming off a disappointing tour to the Republic, where they came up empty.
For the Force, this is almost the last chance saloon. Lose this game and things look pretty grim for the rest of the season. They would have been gutted about missing out last week against a weakened Rebels team. They very nearly got the points after going behind 21-0 in an inspired burst from the hosts. To their credit, though, they never chucked the towel in and got in front late in the piece. The accurate boot of Mark Gerrard denied them at the death, however, and they went down. Losing the close ones has rather been the story of their season so far, other than the pounding they copped from the Canes a few weeks ago. Even then, they were right in the game with twenty minutes to go.
The Reds come to Perth battered and bruised and not only physically. Quite apart from the alarmingly high injury toll of their road trip, the manner in which they lost to a fired up Bulls team in Pretoria would concern their coaching staff. It’s not often in the last 12 months that we’ve seen the Reds so outgunned. They were hanging on in the early stages, but the second half became a deluge that they seemed powerless to stop.
So it’s fair to say that there is a bit riding on this game, especially for the home side.
For the Force, the problem all season has been scoring enough points and missing first up tackles. The pack has done a terrific job in most areas and they now have one of the best set pieces in the competition (witness their demolition of the Rebels scrum last week). The issue I’ve seen in most games has been how static their attack has been once the ball has been cleared from the ruck or restart. Last week was especially bad in that a lot of blokes were receiving the ball flat footed and behind the gain line. The Rebels, by contrast, were getting crisp service from the halves and their backs were able to get the ball out in front of them. It’s going to be critical for them to clear the ball quickly and decisively to players hitting the ball at pace. It’s been far too easy to shut their attack down, because it’s been too static and there have been few angles and few bodies in motion. The other area that they are going to have to be much more accurate is the kick and attendant chase. Kicking for field position and playing to the strengths in the pack is a fair enough strategy, but the placement of the kicks hasn’t been great and neither has the chasing to be honest. Those first up tackles need to be made on the chase and provide the ability to pin the Reds down in their own half.
For the Reds, they’ve struggled to get their game going a bit this season. There have been times when it has threatened to click, but then there is further disruption with injury. Undoubtedly losing their playmakers in Cooper, Harris and Lucas has not helped matters. The Reds have rather had to rely on the accurate boot of Harris to keep the score board ticking while they sort out their attack. They’ve also scored a number of tries on the counter attack or from broken play, rather than set moves, which won’t always work against better organised defences. The pack has struggled at times to provide that solid platform and they’ll have their hands full against the Force this week. There is actually a lot to like about the Reds pack, littered as it is with Wallabies and talented youngsters. The key for them will be to front up physically against a team who will be sniffing a result and to protect the young five-eighth Dallan Murphy, who ensured a tough baptism last week. With hard men like Van in the line up and young guys like Quirk off the bench (who had a good game in Brisbane against the Force) and Gill, they will still feel they are in with a big chance. The key will be neutralising the threat in the set piece and the break down and to get the ball to their flyers out wide.
Teams
Western Force: 1. Pek Cowan 2. Nathan Charles 3. Salesi Ma’afu 4. Toby Lynn 5. Nathan Sharpe 6. Richard Brown 7. David Pocock 8. Matt Hodgson 9. Brett Sheehan 10. James Stannard 11. Alfie Mafi 12. Winston Stanley 13. Nick Cummins 14. Samu Wara 15. David Harvey
Reserves: 16. Elvis Taione 17. Kieran Longbottom 18. Phoenix Battye 19. Ben McCalman 20. Ben Seymour 21. Rory Sidey 22. Kyle Godwin
Reds: 1. Ben Daley 2. James Hanson 3. James Slipper 4. Van Humphries 5. James Horwill (c) 6. Scott Higginbotham 7. Liam Gill 8. Jake Schatz 9. Will Genia (vc) 10. Dallan Murphy 11. Luke Morahan 12. Ben Tapuai 13. Joel Rapana 14. Dom Shipperley 15. Rod Davies
Replacements: 16. Albert Anae 17. Greg Holmes 18. Rob Simmons 19. Eddie Quirk 20. Beau Robinson 21. Nick Frisby 22. Nathan Eyres-Brown
Details
Date: Saturday, 31 March
Venue: nib Stadium, Perth
Kick-off: 18:40 WST
Referee: Garrat Williamson
Assistant referees: Steve Walsh, Andrew Lees
Television match official: George Ayoub
Game Breaker
Ben Tapuai has been the star of the Reds backline this year and has really stood out in terms of breaking the line, creating continuity and threatening defences. He could well have a gold jersey on his back by the end of this season, such has been his development. I think he’s going to influence this game, because he offers plenty in attack and will be a constant worry for the Force defence. If he gets any kind of sniff in the Force half, he’ll be a threat, mostly from broken play.
Fearless Prediction
I predicted the last Force home game was going to be tight and got it totally wrong. This time, however, I really do think it will be close. The Force will be desperate, but don’t have the fire power in attack to blow the game wide open. The Reds are missing several of their key creative players who can pile on the points and this will mean that they probably won’t run away with it if they win.
Force by 3.
