Western Force head coach Simon Cron has reflected on the side’s recent Toyota Challenge losses to the Cheetahs ahead of the upcoming games in Mandurah and Claremont.
The Force are in the midst of the four-game Toyota Challenge against South Africa’s Currie Cup-winning Cheetahs, with Game 3 taking place at Lane Group Stadium in Mandurah on Friday 29 September 7pm and Game 4 at Revo Fitness Stadium in Claremont on Saturday 7 October 3pm.
The Cheetahs won both games in Bloemfontein, triumphing 31-27 in Game 1 on Friday 25 August, before a 27-12 victory on Saturday 2 September.
“For us, two very different games,” Cron said. “First game, we controlled things really well, played good territory and possession. Some of our new guys really stepped up and put us in a position to win it and just let them back in the last four minutes. We took a lot of learnings on how to manage a game.
“The second game was a lot tighter. The first half we got up 12-0 and ended up with a yellow card, so a really good message around discipline. We were in the fight the whole game but ultimately they took the win. For us there’s a lot of critical learning from both games and a number of guys that took a lot away from it.
“We had key moves that opened up some special plays that put us through. We definitely scored tries. In the first game all their tries were from maul defence. That’s an area where we had four new forwards go into that pack two weeks before we left. It’s an area to learn from.
“In the second game, a couple of defensive reads and we let them through again. We’ve got to learn from those.”
The Force get the chance to apply those lessons when the two sides meet again starting on Friday week in Mandurah, with Cron outlining the key messages to players.
“We had four critical areas, attacking breakdown, maul defence, first three phases holding position and discipline,” Cron said. “They’re our focuses.”
The Force head coach identified a number of positives to come out of the Bloemfontein matches, including individuals such as new signing Harry Potter who was one of three try scorers in Game 1.
“Harry Potter was outstanding. Huge engine, great workrate, huge skillset. Really enjoyed him,” Cron said.
“Tiaan (Tauakipulu) at tighthead, him and Regi (Churchward) coming on added some power. Both of them were really impressive.
“Lopeti (Faifua) at lock, great addition along with Josh (Thompson). They’re two new guys at 22-21 years old. Our forward pack in those games had an average age of 22. That in itself is exciting because I thought they performed pretty well.”
The Force returned from South Africa more than a fortnight ago, with the team back into preparations with one eye on the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season and another on the Cheetahs games.
“We’re still very much gym-focused. We have to be at this time of year,” Cron said.
“The boys are getting double days, there’s a bit of size going on. We need to be able to dominate contact zones in Super Rugby so we need to keep building some lean muscle mass but also putting enough rugby into them to speed the game up against the Cheetahs.”
The Force are using the Toyota Challenge games as an opportunity to develop cohesion and squad depth ahead of the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season, but it’s also a chance to play in regional WA against a top-quality opposition and engage the Mandurah community.
“We’re really excited to get to Mandurah,” Cron said. “There’s a big rugby community down there.
“The whole point of these tours is to get into regional areas and some of the rugby communities that we don’t get to touch when we’re travelling for Super Rugby. It’s exciting, we’re excited to see the kids and the community down there.”
Tickets are on sale for the Mandurah game via Ticketmaster from $15 for the general public and $10 for Force Members. Buy your tickets here.
Gates open at 5:30pm on Friday 29 September, with kick-off at 7pm.
Schedule
Game 3, Lane Group Stadium, Mandurah, Friday 29 September 7pm AWST
Game 4, Revo Fitness Stadium, Claremont, Saturday 7 October 3pm AWST
