Western Force captain Trileen Pomare is hoping to make sure last year's Fijiana upset isn't a one-off as they hunt for the finals in 2024.
The Force stunned the eventual champions in Perth, before getting blown out in the first half by the Brumbies with a shot at their maiden finals berth on the line.
Watch every game of the 2024 Super Rugby Women's season live and exclusive on Stan Sport
“It was definitely frustrating so we’ve learnt from that from last year. We were peaking at the wrong end of the season," Pomare told Rugby.com.au
“Super Rugby W is a sprint, not a long season so we really want to hit the ground running in round one. It took until round three until we found our stride to beat the Drua and then lost it in the back end of the season.
“We need to be peaking at the right time as a sprint."
Pomare is one of several players with international experience named in their side to face the Melbourne Rebels on Friday.
New Zealand trio Sheree Hume, Harono Te Iringa and Pia Tapsell will make their Force debuts alongside Canadian-capped hooker Sara Cline.
Former Super W Player of the Year Lucy Dinnen (nee Lockhart) headlines the bench after originally joining as injury cover.
“We’ve done a lot of our training around connection, we’ve been purposeful about giving up time within our training to build a connection so that’s been really intentional," Pomare explained.
“If you don’t have that connection, it doesn’t mean anything on the field. We need to drive that on and off-field behaviour.
“People come here looking for an opportunity and it’s an interesting space we’re in because we lead the way with multi-year contracts, full-time S & C and High-Performance managers so it’s definitely going to attract some heads, especially before World Cup 2025."
Pomare will lean on vice-captain Michaela Leonard for advice after the lock spent 2023 as the Wallaroos captain following Piper Duck's injury.
“It’s a massive honour to still be in the running for that captaincy spot," Pomare said.
“We have some great leaders amongst us, which I’ll be leaning on heavily throughout the season with Michaela Leonard in her second year in that vice-captaincy role is massive. She really owns that forward space, especially in lineouts
“We definitely challenge each other’s ideas and where the program needs to go and be so we’re just pushing each other to be better throughout the season.”
