Western Force head coach Simon Cron was left to rue an inability to capitalize on numerous chances inside their attacking 22 in Saturday night’s 7-6 defeat to the Highlanders in Dunedin.
The Force offered plenty of enterprise throughout the entertaining yet low-scoring affair but were unable to land a punch, settling for two Ben Donaldson penalties under the roof at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
The WA side got inside the 22 on several occasions including a late burst with five minutes to go led by finishers Jeremy Williams and Michael Wells but ball handling errors proved costly.
“For me, we had a lot of opportunities down in their 22 and we just didn’t convert them,” Cron said post-game.
“We went 50-50 offload, or were stripped, or didn’t hold the ball or were ran out. As a result of that, we let them off the hook.”
Cron added: “Defensively we were OK. In attack we gave away far too many opportunities. We got down there 10-11 times and we went 50-50 offload. Instead of building pressure, we let them off the hook.”
The Force head coach pinpointed his side’s lack of creativity and variety in attack as a reason for their inability to penetrate the Highlanders’ defensive line.
“We had them on the back foot a couple of times and had a lot of opportunities inside their 22 and we didn’t capitalize,” he said.
“We just need to look at that. A little more patience from our boys would be good.
“There were some good points but I felt like when we got into phase play we didn’t make the defence think a whole lot.
“We didn’t create much of a blur. You could pick up who was running. I think we just need to be better there.”
Cron also claimed his side’s game management in the first half should’ve been better, but noted the impact of 95-cap Wallaby Kurtley Beale.
“You can see he’s talking the whole time,” he said. “Even post-game he’s over there talking to some of our game managers about some of the things that happened during the game.
“He’s constantly educating and coaching. For us that’s huge because we don’t have a huge amount of backs that are able to do that apart from Whitey.”
The defeat, combined with the Crusaders’ victory over the Melbourne Rebels on Friday, sees the Force slip into 12th spot with five games to play.
Next up for the WA club is a Saturday test away to the Chiefs, who won 38-22 over the NSW Waratahs on Friday to move into the top four.
“They’re really impressive,” Cron said about the Chiefs. “Top of the food chain, up there with the Hurricanes. We look forward to it.”
Kick-off against the Chiefs is 3:05pm WST next Saturday at FMG Stadium in Waikato. The game will be streamed live on Stan Sport, with regular updates on @WesternForce social media channels.
