Western Force head coach Simon Cron was enthused by 10 minutes of ascendancy before half-time but ultimately says the side were “dominated in the contact zone” in Saturday’s 56-7 loss away to the Chiefs.
The Chiefs scored nine tries to one, racing to a 29-0 lead inside the first 31 minutes where penalties plagued the Force in fine conditions at FMG Stadium Waikato.
The visitors rallied late in the first half, with a penalty try before Sam Spink was held up on the try-line on half-time. But beyond that, it was all the Chiefs who repeatedly got through the gain-line.
“Tough night at the office,” Cron told Sky Sport NZ post-game. “Physically we were dominated in the contact zone.
“The games where we leak that many points it’s very much contact zone dominance. They got it, we didn’t. Both sides of the ball. And as a result of that we were going backwards most of the night.
“They’re outstanding. They shifted the ball well. Damian McKenzie has the ball on a string. There’s little things from his game that we can take.”
The Force haven’t fared well this season against the top-three New Zealand teams, losing 50-3 to the Blues in Auckland a month ago, along with 44-14 against the Hurricanes in Round 1 at HBF Park.
Cron added: “I think there’s three teams in the competition at the moment that physically can do that to us, the Canes, the Chiefs and the Blues. They’re all very tight dominant carriers, big bodies. We’re fine with the rest.
“We’ve just got to go to work, fix the things on the field today we didn’t do well and go again.”
The Force head coach pointed to improving their kicking game and conceding less penalties, with the count finishing 12-6, after giving away eight in the first half.
“We put pressure on ourselves by a few things we could’ve controlled, like kicking the ball out inside our 22, contact zone dominance and offsides,” Cron said.
“We gave away a lot of penalties in that first half which put us under pressure.
“Ten minutes before half-time we actually started to play some good footy. We scored a penalty try, got down there and should’ve scored a second one.
“But as a result of that we then gave them too much ball and didn’t control the gain line.”
Cron said Club debutant scrum-half Henry Robertson was “outstanding” when he came on. He also noted Wallabies half-back Nic White would be “good to go” for next round’s crucial home clash with the eighth-placed Fijian Drua.
Before that, the Force will make the journey back from Hamilton to Perth on Sunday ahead of Saturday’s game from 7:55pm WST, with Cron already switching his attention to the Drua who sit seven points above the WA club.
“The Drua are good too, they’re a great side,” Cron said. “The key thing for us is first contact under ball. We can’t have contact over ball otherwise we ride them down and we can’t get on the ball, we can’t slow the ruck down. That’ll be a big one for us.
“Then little things, like we’ll probably adjust our kicking game for the Drua and make sure we execute our plans.
“Naturally now we’ve got to review this, get better and turn it on for the Drua next week.”
