Western Force head coach Simon Cron says his side lost their way in Friday’s 50-3 loss to the Blues at the ruck, lamenting their lack of shoulder punch against a big opposition side.
The hosts ran in eight tries to none at Eden Park, with the Force regularly on the back foot against a big forward pack who dominated the contest through the middle.
“The key thing for us is to review it properly,” Cron told reporters. “What happened on that field tonight, we need to make sure we slow their ruck speed down.
“Whether it be in the middle or sometimes down the edges, our shoulder punch wasn’t good enough. Our second in the tackle didn’t stay in long enough and didn’t slow it down.
“As a result of that they got quick ruck speed, we’ve got no line integrity and we’re sixes and sevens.
“They’re big down the edge, and big in the middle. For us to be able to keep in a defensive cycle, we’ve got to make sure we first shoulder punch them, second guy in does a job so that the ruck speed is not so fast so we can get line integrity.
“What you saw tonight was the opposite of that. They’d bump off the first one, we’d have to put a second in, quick ruck ball, shift it.
“If you look at their tries, they were coming off some pretty fast ruck speed. We need to be better at doing that.”
The Force had periods of good field position and possession but were unable to offer to break past the Blues’ defence in a frustrating contest for Cron’s side.
“I think it comes down to collision zone,” the Force head coach said. “When you’re attacking the collision zone, if you win the gain line and you get quick ruck speed, they’re on their heels.
“I don’t think we created much of a blur in attack tonight. We started one-out running, as a result of that, double shoulders, and not making gain lines. It’s both sides of the ball gain line against the Blues, which we did not win.”
The heavy defeat comes only a fortnight after the encouraging 40-31 victory over the Queensland Reds, where the Force led 28-5 at half-time.
It leaves the Force in 12th position with a 1-6 record ahead of the side’s mid-season bye in Round 8.
The side’s first half of the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific campaign hasn’t been helped by a long list of tight-five injuries.
Argentina international tighthead prop Santiago Medrano was the latest as a late out on Friday due to a head injury sustained in training in the lead-up to the game, forcing 22-year-old Tiaan Tauakipulu to make a debut start, with late call-up Joel Hintz coming off the bench.
“We’ve had a couple of really good games, Brumbies, Reds, where we controlled the ruck speed, we controlled the game,” Cron said.
“Our tighthead tonight, it’s his first start tonight and he came up against an All-Black. We had a late injury in the piece and we had a guy come in a day before we played.
“Both those guys are pretty fresh to the market. I just said to him (Tiaan) in the sheds, I said ‘that’s an All Black you ‘re up against, that’s your measure. That’s where you need to get to. Yeah he’s a big body but now you know what it feels like’.
“Every prop is going to go through that process at some point and unfortunately for some of our boys this is their first crack at it. Now he knows what it feels like, so that’s where you head to son, every training. He’s only a pup, we’ll help him through that and get to the next game.”
Force acting captain Nic White told Sky TV post-game that the playing squad would utilize the upcoming bye to re-group, with finals not out of the question.
The Force may be 1-6 but sit only six points behind the eighth-placed Highlanders. The WA club also have four more home games to come, having made HBF Park a fortress in 2023.
“It’ll be good to get home,” White said, after two weeks on the road with back-to-back away games in Auckland and Fiji.
“It’s not over for us. We’re ready to go again. We’ve got to stack on some good wins.”
White offered praise to debutant Henry O’Donnell, who made a 10-minute cameo late in the contest.
“We’re really proud of him,” White said. “He’s worked bloody hard. He’s a guy that turns up every day.
“That’s going to be the first of many for him. I just said to him in there, ‘we’ll make it up to him’. Tonight wasn’t good enough. That shouldn’t be what he remembers his first cap to be.”
The Force will have their bye in Round 8, followed by a clash with reigning champions Crusaders at HBF Park on Saturday 20 April from 5:35pm WST.
