Western Force head coach Simon Cron was thrilled his side hung on for victory in Friday’s tense 30-27 triumph over the Cheetahs and says there were some valuable lessons to come out of the clash.
The lead changed numerous times in the Game 3 victory in Mandurah, with Carlo Tizzano’s 68th minute try helping the Force ahead for the final time after trailing 17-13 at the interval.
However, the home side had to weather several late Cheetahs’ thrusts to secure the win that has the four-game Toyota Challenge 2-1 in the favour of the South African Currie Cup winners ahead of Game 4 at Claremont’s Revo Fitness Stadium from 3pm on Saturday.
Cron said the tense conclusion offered some valuable lessons to his side, while paying credit to his players for clinging on for the win.
“I think the boys will take a lot of learnings from it,” he said. “Most importantly it was a tight game and they got on the right side of it.
“I was quite tense in the coaches’ box. For us there’s a few learnings there. Maybe an opportunity to take three and exit out. The boys chose to go for the maul and turned it over.
“Therefore they had to defend and stuck to their guns, defended, got an on-ball turnover and ended the game, so good on them."
The Force scored four tries for the game, with Tizzano grabbing two, while George Poolman and Jackson Pugh added the others.
“We had a few set-plays today,” Cron said. “We had the tap penalty, we had the over-the-top line-out and we had the quick maul in the corner, three set-plays got tries, which is good.
“We can’t rely on trick plays all the time. We’ve just got to get a little bit better on maintaining possession and keeping pressure on.
“The boys are doing their roles really well. They scored some good tries. The Cheetahs are always going to come back. We’ve still got to work on our maul defence quite a bit, that’s hurting us. That’ll be a key focus for us.”
The Force are using the Toyota Challenge as an opportunity to improve team cohesion and develop young talent ahead of the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season.
There have been plenty of bright lights during the series, with several younger players impressing Cron with 24-year-old fly-half Max Burey starring on Friday night despite missing a few place-kick attempts.
“As you saw in Super Rugby, he can be an absolutely brilliant player,” Cron said about Burey. “The key thing is he’ll take some learnings today. I saw him before and he’s already talking about some of them.
“He’s a pretty focused human being. We love that about him. I’ve got no doubts he’ll be better for the game.”
Force hooker Tom Horton was named Player of the Match in Game 3 after a strong game in the trenches.
“Horto always goes 110% for the whole game,” he said. “He’s tough, hard. We left him out there for the full 80. That’s partly because he keeps going all day. A couple of the other guys did well too.”
Cron was also excited to return to Perth to play in front of the Sea of Blue in Claremont, after almost 3,000 fans turned out in Mandurah.
“We get another game in Perth, in front of our Sea of Blue,” Cron said. “They love rugby, we love having them at games. The whole point of this is to develop talent here, we’re excited about.”
Tickets are on sale via Ticketmaster for Game 4 at Claremont’s Revo Fitness Stadium. GA Tickets to the public can be purchased via the link for $15 per game. GA Tickets at the gate will be $20.
Members can purchase GA Tickets at a discounted rate of $10 per game through their Membership renewal or new Membership purchase as add on at the checkout.
Match Details
Western Force v Cheetahs
Revo Fitness Stadium, Claremont
Saturday 7 October, Kick-off 3pm
Gates Open 1:30pm
