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 was. From that point until the first try it was scored it was a bit of kickathon with few handling errors mixed in. To be fair, it had rained fairly heavily in the hour leading up to the game and the track and ball were both pretty greasy.
Things did settle down to a degree for the rest of the half and after a free kick was awarded for yet another scrum infringement, the Force took a quick tap and Matt Hodgson went over in a piece of quick thinking. It wasn’t a case of catching the Brumbies napping per se, he was just too fast in his reactions and too powerful, especially being so close to the goal line.
They did it again right before half time and put Ben McCalman over near the posts. The Force hadn’t created a huge amount and had been content to play a field position game with their outside backs chasing hard. They actually did this fairly well and several times Nick Cummins was prominent, keeping the Brumbies pinned in their 22.
They missed out on another try as well when a ball spilled in contact was ruled to have travelled marginally forward. It was very line-ball, but right the call was probably made in the end.
The Brumbies night didn’t get a lot better early in the second half when the Force scored another try to go 21-3 ahead. It was actually a fantastic set piece move from a scrum. Cummins ran a beautiful line through the close in channel, broke a couple of tackles and flicked a beautiful ball to Junior Rasolea, who stepped his man an went over next to the sticks. It is to be hoped that they show similar amounts of back line adventure next year, because we’ve only seen it in occasional glimpses this season.
The Brumbies hit back almost immediately when Matt Toomua hit outside centre Tevita Kuridrani with a fantastic short ball and he went over under the sticks. Not long after that Scott Fardy went over as well and it was game on.
In the end though the Brumbies were their own worst enemies. Guys you would normally expect to be front and centre when the game is close committed some fairly basic skill errors and might not have done their Wallaby chances a whole lot of good. Matt Toomua was especially guilty on a few occasions, not the least of which was the howler on full time, where he forgot to touch the ball down before throwing it twenty-odd metres for a 22 restart. There were a couple of other sloppy passes and general untidiness that marred his game tonight.
Credit must be given to the Force, however, for the way they fronted up in the tough stuff and held their nerve when the game got a bit close towards the end. So many times they’ve gone off the boil when a game was there to be won, but they were enthusiastic at the breakdown, showed good line speed in defence and I thought handily won the collisions in this game.
Their season is now over though and the Brumbies get to front up again next week. They’re going to have to improve massively on this effort if they want to get to the second week of the finals. Their opponents will be no mugs.
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The Game Changer
Rasolea’s try was my big moment in the game. It got the Force out to a three try lead and put the Brumbies even more on the back foot.
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The G&GR MotM
It was a toss up between Ben McCalman and Nick Cummins for mine. They were both outstanding and very committed in contact.
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Wallaby watch
There were several players who would have been looking to press their cases for Wallaby selection tonight and the biggest one I think would have been Matt Toomua. It’s fair to say that he didn’t do his chances a lot of good. He has a chance to atone next week though. Hugh McMenimen was carried off in a worrying looking injury that will also dampen his short term prospects.
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The Details
Force: 21 (Hodgson, McCalman, Rasolea tries; Hayward 3 conv) defeated Brumbies: 15 (Kuirdrani, Fardy tries; Lealiifano 1 pen and 1 conv)
Yellow cards: None
Refereee: Rohan Hoffman
