Often overlooked, the Western Force produce a statement win in Super Rugby

Saturday’s win was an inflection point in an inconsistent season.

The Force began the season with losses at home to the ACT Brumbies and the Auckland-based Blues, had an away win over Moana Pasifika before a run of narrow losses to New Zealand teams the Highlanders, Hurricanes and Chiefs.

With a win on Saturday, they move up to ninth place on the table, still 10 points behind the sixth-placed Reds. The win still provides an affirmation that they may be on the right track.

“It keeps our fire going inside of us,” Force captain Nick Champion de Crespigny said. “We’ve got that belief of where we want to go. We want to be the first team from the Force to be in the finals. That’s our objective.”

“We’ve been in a lot of games and haven’t been able to seal it out. Key moments kept letting them back in. We wanted (Saturday) to have the complete performance.”

No Lomax

The match against the Reds was expected to be the first for the Force by former rugby league star Zac Lomax but he was pulled from the teamsheet at the last moment.

“Sorry about that,” coach Simon Cron said. “He trained fully on Thursday but only got up to 80% speed. He’s just a bit tight in his hamstring, maybe has got a very minor strain in there.

“Because he’s a power athlete, if we put him away down the edge he’s going to sprint and it’s just too high of a risk for him and for us.”

Drua on the road

The Fijian Drua’s inability to win away from home has shown up again this season, most starkly with their 69-26 loss to the Christchurch-based Crusaders on Friday.

The Drua’s appearances in the post-season would have been much more regular if they were able to collect the occasional win on the road.

In the last three seasons, the Drua have lost 18 matches away from home and won none. At the same time, they have won 12 matches at home and lost six.

The Drua have lost away matches this season to the New South Wales Waratahs, the Auckland-based Blues and the Crusaders while picking up impressive home wins over the table-topping Hurricanes and the ACT Brumbies.

They return home to face the Force next weekend before playing the Brumbies and Chiefs on the road, hoping to lift themselves from 10th on the 11-team table.

Head coach Glen Jackson said the Drua’s inability to consistently apply pressure in defense was a key factor on Friday.

“We just didn’t do things that we’d wanted to,” he said. “I think defensively, we didn’t come forward. Against a team as good as the Crusaders, full of All Blacks, we didn’t get off the line, allowed gaps and we didn’t work hard enough.

“We have to live in the moment and we lost a lot of those key moments. We have to build on those good moments. The physicality was there but it was just taking those opportunities in the game that we needed to do more often.”

Farewell Apollo

Friday’s match was the last the Crusaders will play at Apollo Projects Stadium, the “temporary” stadium they have occupied since their previous home at Lancaster Park was destroyed in the 2012 Christchurch Earthquake.

The Crusaders will now move to a brand new, roofed stadium which will be their home for years to come.

Their win over the Fijian Drua was a suitable farewell: their 100th win at a stadium which may have lacked the amenities of many others in Super Rugby but became a crowd favorite.

“I see it as a place that was created to give hope to our city and our region,” said hooker Codie Taylor who has played all of his 150 matches for the Crusaders at the old stadium. “I was part of the wider squad when the earthquake hit and I was part of that tough time the city went through.

“We traveled for every game that season and then eventually we got a home ground. It became a place to bring hope and unify the city in a way. Rugby has done that down here. It’s a place we love to play at. It’s home.”

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