The Western Force's Super Rugby Pacific season has come to a frustrating end, but coach Simon Cron has already turned his sights on next month's massive challenge of the British and Irish Lions and even further forward to next season.
Speaking after the dramatic, heartbreaking 22-17 Golden Point loss to the Waratahs on Saturday night at HBF Park, Cron reflected on the side's season, which started positively with the side sitting fourth at the halfway mark before a disappointing back half.
"A number of guys in our team have given their heart and soul this year," Cron told reporters post-game.
"We have got to look at how we can add people around them to keep driving us forward and how we can push forward the ones that are still learning to get more consistent performances.
"The core group staying together is important for the club.
"A big area of growth for us is our rugby brains in key moments.
"We sometimes make it a bit hard for ourselves but that's where they've got to keep learning."
Tickets to the Force-Lions game are on sale now via Ticketmaster.
Cron said the 'Tahs defeat "hurt a lot".
"If you don't care too much it won't hurt you, but the majority of our boys really care for the club and each other," he said.
"It will be hurting them."
He said they had been their own worst enemy in the game.
"We created a few opportunities, we just didn't pass the ball, threw a couple of intercepts, we didn't kick that well at times, a bit of ill-discipline," he said.
The harsh travel schedule meant Cron had only six intensive training sessions in six weeks and only had one full training session after returning from Fiji.
"Makes it more challenging. Unfortunately, that's the way the cookie crumbled," he said.
He had left a number of big names, including Harry Potter and Nic White, in Perth for the previous game against the Drua.
"We left guys back here hoping they would be in a good position to drive forward but then you see cohesion issues," Cron said.
"You could see some of the timing was off a little bit. That hurt us.
"We had plenty of opportunities to ice the game but we didn't do it."
Captain Jeremy Wiliams, said in hindsight he may have taken couple of penalties rather than kick for the corners.
"It's disappointing to finish like that. It's really frustrating," he said.
"We wanted to put a performance on for our fans.
"It's disappointing that we did lose but there was a lot of good stuff out there and we will review and get better for the Lions.
Home grown flanker Carlo Tizzano stretched his lead at the top of the 2025 try scoring ladder with 13 five-pointers and claimed the crown as the best ever try-scorer for a forward in the history of the competition with his first-half effort.
Full-back Mac Grealy and centre Hamish Stewart added one each before the break.
The Waratahs scored two of their own in the first period through wingers Triston Reilly and Darby Lancaster and it was Lancaster that broke Force hearts when he scored in the corner with the Golden Point clock in the red.
A Waratahs penalty was the only score of the second half to tie the game at 17 points apeice.
Kurtley Beale, stepping in for the injured Ben Donaldson, had the chance to snatch the win but a 55-metre penalty in the dying seconds of normal time drifted past the upright.
And then in Super Point time reserve Alex Harford, in just his second game for the Force, had his chance of glory but his 45-metre kick hit the bottom of the post.
Tickets to the Force-Lions game are on sale now via Ticketmaster.
