Western Force acting captain Reed Prinsep is determined to right the wrongs from Sunday’s loss to Emerging Ireland when the side rounds out their South Africa tour against the DHL Western Province XV on Saturday.
The Force fell short 29-24 to the Irish in their final Toyota Challenge game in Bloemfontein, following on from Wednesday’s encouraging 38-24 win over the Cheetahs.
The WA side will now travel to South Africa’s south west to Stellenbosch, 45 minutes outside of Cape Town, for their final game from 9pm WST against the Western Province.
Prinsep was buoyed the Force’s fighting spirit against Emerging Ireland, rallying back from an early 19-point deficit to almost snatch victory.
But the Force weren’t helped by penalties, including two yellow cards, while their defence was stretched at times by the dynamic Irish line-up.
“We’ve still got one to go,” Prinsep told SuperSport after Sunday’s game.
“We’ll go down to Stellenbosch and play Western Province. One more opportunity to right some wrongs from today and keep showing that effort that we’re doing.”
The Force showed strong resolve to respond after conceding three tries in the first 20 minutes, utilizing a drinks break at the 20-minute mark – due to the warm conditions – to re-group.
“We talked about it at the 20-minute mark and at half-time about giving that little bit more, that one or two per cent more,” the former Hurricanes back-rower said.
“We thought we started a little bit off. Once we talked about that extra little bit, one or two per cent, I felt we got some good gains from that.”
The 31-year-old, who has 10 Maori All Blacks caps to his name, added that he was proud of his side’s fight to stay in Sunday’s game.
“It’s certainly something I’m very proud of. We went up against a high-quality international team. We stayed in the fight.
“We put them under pressure through multiple phases of that game. Credit to them, they got the job done.”
Saturday’s game against Western Province will not be live streamed but follow @WesternForce on Twitter for updates.
