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Sampson highlights 'interesting stat' that gives Force hope against Crusaders

Kyle Godwin. (Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images)

Western Force flanker Kane Koteka will miss the rest of the Super Rugby Pacific season with a foot injury.

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Koteka suffered the injury in last week’s 22-18 loss to the Blues in Perth.

The 28-year-old won the team’s best and fairest award last year, and his absence is a big blow to the Force’s hopes of landing a top-eight berth.

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The Force have made two changes to the starting line-up for Saturday night’s clash with the Crusaders in Perth.

Backrower Tim Anstee has been included to start in the No 8 jersey, with Ollie Callan moving to the right flank. Winger Byron Ralston replaces Toni Pulu (hamstring).

Force coach Tim Sampson has praised his team’s resilience in the face of disappointment following a series of heartbreaking losses this season.

The Force’s four-point defeat to the ladder-leading Blues was their fifth by six points or less this year.

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Sampson’s men suffered heartbreaking one-point losses to both the Rebels and Brumbies, and they went down to the Waratahs by five points. In round one, the Force conceded a late try to lose to the Brumbies by six points.

The run of close losses has seen the Force slip to ninth spot with a 2-7 record, but they are still in the hunt for a top-eight berth.

“They’re in a good space,” Sampson said of his players. “I take my hat off to them. We’ve had so many tight losses. It’s five games now that have been by [six] points or less.

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“It’s a pretty tough crew, and they’re desperate to get a win.”

The Force finally reversed their notorious slow starts last week, and also managed to hold the Blues scoreless in the second half to almost steal the win.

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“An interesting stat that came out was it was the first time the Blues had been held scoreless in the second half for four years,” Sampson said. “We still lost, but we take a lot of confidence out of that against the top team.”

Force: Tom Robertson, Feleti Kaitu’u, Santiago Medrano, Ryan McCauley, Izack Rodda, Fergus Lee-Warner, Ollie Callan, Tim Anstee, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Reesjan Pasitoa, Manasa Mataele, Bayley Kuenzle, Kyle Godwin, Byron Ralston, Jake Strachan. Reserves: Andrew Ready, Angus Wagner, Bo Abra, Jeremy Thrush, Alex Masibaka, Ian Prior, Jake McIntyre, Richard Kahui

– Justin Chadwick

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AM 43 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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