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Maori All Black to debut for Western Force against rested Waratahs
By AAP
Western Force coach Simon Cron says it’s time his side started to deliver some wins to go with their increased level of performance as their Super Rugby Pacific season quickly fades away.
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They’ll be on the road for a fourth straight game but at least in Australia when they face the struggling NSW Waratahs on Saturday night.
Their winless three-game trip to New Zealand brought some gritty displays but Cron insisted it was their chance to start delivering.
“(A win) would be great for us,” he said.
“The key thing for us is performance, building those combinations, getting cohesive playing better than we did the week before and that’s really important.
“There’s a lot of learnings going on in the group but it’s time for the boys to … play the whole time … rather than just taking the foot off slightly.
“There’s some key areas the boys were focusing on post the Hurricanes game.”
Jake Strachan will continue at five-eighth for the Force (2-4) after impressing off the bench last time out, allowing Hamish Stewart to shift to centre.
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They’ve also named former Maori All Black representative Jacob Norris, who’s been training with the squad since March and was with them on their NZ tour, for his first Force game.
“We’re always scouring for the right type of player and we feel Jacob will add (to the side),” Cron said.
“He’s been with us for six weeks now so the door is open for him. We could see if we didn’t add to the squad we could be light and sure enough we have.
“The key thing for us is we already have a young squad … we got a lot of guys in that NZ tour with great experiences but we need to make sure we’re bringing in guys with a little bit of experience around that as well.”
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The Tahs have flanker Lachie Swinton back in their starting side, while Tom Lambert will start at prop in place of Te Tera Faulkner.
They’re also off a bye week but their last performance was probably their best of the season to date, landing a string of punches on arch-rival ACT Brumbies before falling late in the 40-36 loss.
“They have a really good squad across the park and they’ve had some indifferent starts and finishes in their games … I’m sure they are working on the background on those things,” Cron said.
