Western Force coach Simon Cron was confident a momentum shift was coming during the half-time break in the side's sensational 31-26 comeback win against reigning Super Rugby champions Crusaders on Saturday night.
The Force battled back from a 20-minute Crusaders onslaught that left them 19 points down to shock the 13-times title holders in the Round 10 Swyftx Super Rugby Pacific competition clash at HBF Park.
The pendulum swing started with the long-range try finished by scrum-half Henry Robertson five minutes from the break.
"I felt like, in the sheds, everyone was composed and clear around what we needed to do," Cron said.
"To be able to come back from where we were and fight their way back was extremely pleasing. The boys went to work and fought to the last minutes.
"The belief in the squad has always been there and the boys fought pretty hard.
"Defensively the boys were fighting right to the last minute, didn't give any penalties and were really composed. They got the result they deserved."
His sentiments were echoed by captain Jeremy Williams.
"I saw a really good change in the back end of the first half, we sorted out our discipline and were changing the picture to the referee," he said. "We finished the first half really well.
"Coming into the change room the energy was really high. We had a few fixes and wanted to start fast in the second half."
The Force were on the end of a big penalty count with a yellow card to flanker Nick Champion de Crespigny in the first 20 minutes that Cron said was "quite interesting".
"That first 30 minutes there was definitely a jersey getting a hiding," he said. "We were able to absorb that and kick on and change momentum.
"I've got to review it to be more accurate."
Williams said they had been "under the scope" of the referee for the first quarter of the game.
"Some of the calls weren't going our way, some of the 50-50 ones," he said. "That put us under a lot of pressure.
"Then also ourselves creeping around offside, we were painting bad pictures for the ref."
He said they were forced to change the picture.
"It's being squeaky clean, getting out of the ruck, taking an extra step on the offside line to paint good pictures to the referee and touchies," he said.
"The reaction of the boys was really good. The fight and grit is something we pride ourselves on.
"It was awesome to see us come back from 19 nil. A lot of times you can put the head down and potentially concede more tries.
"We've been in that position plenty of times. It was cool to come put the other side and win."
The Crusaders opened the scoring with three tries before the Force replied with a sensational 50-metre effort finished off Robertson who grabbed a second after the break.
Lomax dived over in the corner in his first start to level the scores at 19-all and as the pendulum swung Crusaders reserve Noah Hotham, Force winger Dylan Pietsch and prop Harry Johnson-Holmes on his 100th Super appearance all added five points.
Star signing, NRL convert Zac Lomax played 60-minutes in his home debut.
"He had a lot of great touches," Cron said. "He was brilliant in the air, scored a great try, he's finding his feet, he's so keen to learn.
"He adds a dominant voice in the backline. He'll only get better."
Cron also had plenty of praise for flanker Carlo Tizzano who was involved in twice holding up Crusaders players over the line in the first 20 minutes and pulled off the final jackal to win the game.
"He was outstanding. He's a driven individual," Cron said. "He's very highly motivated during the week, a high energy individual."
Just six points separate the 10th-placed Force and the Crusaders in sixth as they head into a bye which Cron said would give them more time to recover from the gastro bout that hit them in Fiji.
"I won't moan about it," he said. "We'll take the bye as it comes. It's fine. Now it's about the next job."
