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‘Do stand by that’: Chase Tiatia backs playoff ‘promise’ ahead of Chiefs clash
By Finn Morton
Before the season had even begun, Western Force recruit Chase Tiatia made a Super Rugby Pacific playoff “promise” to the people of Perth.
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Speaking with RugbyPass in the leadup to their final preseason trail against the Fijian Drua in Brisbane, Tiatia said the Force would “definitely” make the playoffs.
“The ultimate goal is always to win a championship,” Tiatia said more than 100 days ago.
“We’ll definitely be in the playoffs this year… that’s a promise for the people in Perth.”
After losing that preseason clash with the Drua in the western suburbs of the River City, the Force bounced back when it counted.
The Western Force got their season off to an idyllic start with an opening round win over Australian rivals the Melbourne Rebels – former All Black Jeremy Thrush was the hero in February.
But disaster struck a week later. Harbouring hopes of going 2-0 to start the campaign, the Force were outclassed by the Reds in Super Round.
Captain Michael Wells and coach Simon Cron looked dejected as they sat down for their press conference after a staggering 51 point defeat at AAMI Park.
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But fast forward to the final round of the season, and the Force have claimed some major scalps throughout a roller coaster season.
Moana Pasifika, the Highlanders, Drua and Brumbies have all fallen to the Force – and all of those wins came at the fortress that is HBF Park in Perth.
With one round to play in the regular season, the Force sit just outside of a playoff spot in ninth-place. But a win against the Chiefs this weekend could see them sneak into the knockout rounds.
After making that “promise” almost four months ago, Chase Tiatia spoke with RugbyPass again – and ahead of their clash with the Chiefs, the fullback confidently backed his playoff proclamation.
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“I do stand by that,” Tiatia said.
“We just have to win, all we have to do is win and then we’re in. Depending on how results go we could finish seventh.
“I think we’re five from five now so if we win all of our home games we go through.
“Quite confident in the squad or the guys that have been picked to play this weekend, and going up against the Chiefs, I’d say that they’ll rest a few guys knowing that they’ve got a big quarterfinal coming up.
“I’d say they wouldn’t want to travel for a majority of our squad but I mean that’s no excuse for us.”
Away wins have proved hard to come by for the Force this season, but their home form has been a completely different story.
The Force have played with passion, intent and focus in front of their home fans in Perth – and are looking to go six from six at HBF Park this weekend.
“We’re at home, we’ve got all the confidence, we’ve had a good training week so far… the boys are confident, we don’t want to finish our season here,” Tiatia added.
“Five from five at home, we’re starting to get the crowds there as well which is nice.
“I think that just ignites the fire for the boys a little bit more and we want to go out there and show up for our fans and so far we’ve been doing that.”
The Force fell agonisingly short of what would’ve been an historic win over the Highlanders in Invercargill earlier this year, with Sam Gilbert inspiring the hosts to a thrilling 43-35 win.
Close losses to the Blues, Hurricanes and Waratahs followed – but they finally bucked their losing trend with a revengeful win over the Landers back in Perth.
“We’ve lost a few games that we should have got bonus points or even won the game so we’ve made it hard for ourselves coming into this last week.
“We get complacent, we have good wins and then I don’t what it is – we don’t train as hard or the mindset is not quite there.
“Super Rugby is a tough competition to win games and sometimes we forget that. On the weekend, we went in with the mindset that we were just going to roll over the Rebels and then we’d be in the playoffs.
“But we don’t have that luxury, we need to fight for every game, fighting every game and fight for every bonus point.”
The match between the Force and ladder-leading Chiefs is set to get underway at about 8.00pm AWST or midnight on Sunday for those watching on from New Zealand.
