Round 3: Bulls v W Force

[Dumbo]

Can the Force do it again? I’m hoping so, why? Cause they got on the **** after winning their first game for the season and are now without Scott Fava due to disciplinary actions.
Poor *******!

Also I think the Force hit the jackpot with prop Richards Bands, wing Bryan Habana, scrum-half Fourie du Preez, replacement hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and fly-half Derick Hougaard all suspect due to injury.
The return of fly-half Jaco van der Westhuyzen I don’t think will be enough to get them through.

Also if you didn’t read above - Scott Fava is out for getting on the piss… harsh (I think he’s played his ass off and deserved a drink or two).

Should be a good battle up front and a really good test for both teams, lets see if the Force’s backline can finally click.

Is Hilgendorf fixed yet?

Force by 9+

 

[Dumbo]

Force lineup:
15 Drew Mitchell
14 Scott Staniforth
13 Ryan Cross
12 Junior Pelesasa
11 Cameron Shepherd
10 Matt Giteau
9 Matt Henjak
8 Richard Brown
7 Matt Hodgson
6 David Pusey
5 Nathan Sharpe ©
4 Rudi Vedelago
3 Troy Takiari
2 Brendan Cannon
1 Gareth Hardy
Reserves:
16 Tai McIsaac
17 Angus Scott
18 Luke Doherty
19 David Pocock
20 Chris O'Young
21 Scott Daruda
22 Haig Sare.

For mine still not sure about Mitchell at 15, I'd swap him for Shepherd and put Drew on the Wing

 

[Juggernaut]

Bulls forwards will do the same thing they always do to Aussie forwards.

McIsaac will be bruised, Hardy & Takiari will be brutalised.



Bulls by 15+

 

[Dumbo]

Will be a good test for the Force's forwards to try and handle.
Flava is a big loss to them in this game... yup expect the Bulls to put in the back yards with their forwards... the only reason I'm going for the Force in this one is due to a fair amount of Bulls players out with injury.

 

[Dumbo]

Head to Head:
Bulls
15 Johan Roets
14 Akona Ndungane
13 JP Nel
12 Wynand Olivier
11 Marius Delport
10 Morné Steyn
9 Fourie du Preez
8 Pedrie Wannenburg
7 Wikus van Heerden
6 Anton Leonard
5 Victor Matfield ©
4 Danie Rossouw
3 Danie Thiart
2 Gary Botha
1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements:
16 Derick Kuün
17 Wessel Roux
18 Francois van Schouwenburg
19 Hilton Lobberts
20 Heinie Adams
21 Jacques-Louis Potgieter
22 Jaco van der Westhuyzen

Force
15 Drew Mitchell
14 Scott Staniforth
13 Ryan Cross
12 Junior Pelesasa
11 Cameron Shepherd
10 Matt Giteau
9 Matt Henjak
8 Richard Brown
7 Matt Hodgson
6 David Pusey
5 Nathan Sharpe ©
4 Rudi Vedelago
3 Troy Takiari
2 Brendan Cannon
1 Gareth Hardy.
Replacements:
16 Tai McIsaac,
17 Angus Scott
18 Luke Doherty
19 David Pocock
20 Chris O'Young
21 Scott Daruda
22 Haig Sare

 

[mimic]

I blame John Mitchell. He was also accused of having that "drinking culture" with the All Blacks.

Maybe he's continuing with it with the Western Force.
Should be a good game. I'm just waiting for the Force to explode and be a contender.

 

[The TRUTH]

A big step up in terms of opposition this week for the Force, it doesn't get much tougher than the Bulls at Loftus.

Looking at both line-ups the Force would have to feel that this is a great opportunity to finally get their first big scalp, this Bulls side looks alot less imposing without the 7 or 8 players they're missing (durr)...... Bands,Gerber,Rallepele.Habana,Hougaardt,Bakkies,Spies and Dlulane, thats 7 Springboks there, a huge loss for any team(double durr).

Even so, the Bulls have the pack to subdue the Force and deny them the quality of possession needed to unleash their star backline.These big ugly ******** have long employed a sometimes boring but very effective approach of putting the smack down at the breakdown and tearing teams to peices in the set peices..... tomorrows match will determine just how much our forwards have improved.

If our backs can get quick ball, then i'm very confident they are good enough to run rings around their oppisite numbers..... but that remains a big IF.

Glad to see that Matty Hodgson has finally been given a run at 7, a position that i think he did very well in last season.

I'm gonna back my boyz to win this one (big surprise) but this is definately not a match i'm expecting them to win(half our guys have never played at loftus before).

Force to shock the world in a close one

 

[BokMagic]

Even with all them Bulls Bokke missing through injury, this is still close to the class tight 5 in the comp- and look out for Guthro Steenkamp putting in a big performance on his return from injury.

Wessel Roux is demoted to the bench following his "fattie" try special last week, so expect a big performance from him coming off the bench as is expected.

In the line-outs, I strongly suspect that the Bulls will once again shut out their opposition in the 2nd half- Matfield is the maestro of messing up the opposition line-outs. Expect Brendon Cannon to again freeze up, as happened in the 2004 tri-nations decider.

As much as it pains me to say this, the Bulls are certainly no pushovers like the current Stormers rabble, the forwards will dominate possession, and Du Preez will use the boot(sigh!) to gain the territorial yards. They will set up camp in Force territory, eke out the yards, 6 inches at a time, and take their penalties. It won`t be pretty, it`ll be winning in Quasimodo fashion, but it`ll be mighty effective.

 

[esoj]

an interesting clash this one. the bulls have heaps of injuries but the force could struggle in the forwads. I think the force have all the class out wide and it will just come down to if they can get enough ball. the bulls will play the traditional forward game and look to get errors in force terrority. I will pick the force in a close one by 7 points

 

[Haj]

FAAAAAARK YEAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!



.....crawls back to bed.

 

[SecondRow04]

Final score 27-30 to W Force!!!

 

[Boggle]

Bulls were stupid not to take the penalties, could have... SHOULD have atleast drawn that game.

Still, Western Force are on FIRE !
most improved team I've ever seen.

 

[Haj]

The forwards got killed at the lineout and scrums but at least we were competing at the breakdown and managed to hold back the immense pressure of rolling mauls and pick n drives by the Bulls forwards when it really counted.
Last season our lineout was probably the best of the ozzie teams and our scrum was serviceable. We seem to have gone backwards since then but i cant wait to see the force in flight when the forwards are in sync. Interesting to see where Fava will fit in next week. We seem much more of a presence at the breakdown when he's not on the field.
Still early days yet but im pretty stoked by the result.
With all the media hype about huxley and shisckoffe(sp?) of late as leading contenders for the wallaby 15 jersey leading into the world cup.........the man at fullback has to be Cameron Shepherd surely!

 

[BokMagic]

Congrats to the Force, excellent performance all-round, especially at the breakdowns and from broken play, where this game was won and lost. Certainly it`s made me sit up and take note of the Force, they look like genuine contenders for the ***le suddenly- well done to all concerned for turning them around so well.

Couldn`t understand what the Bulls were doing, though- if you`ve got the line-out and rucking dominance, and no discernable ability out wide, why are you trying to move it wide if you can`t get anything going? And well done to the Force for stopping the rampant Bulls rolling mauls from the line-outs, but if that little trick isn`t working for you, why did the Bulls continue with that little plan A indefinately?

Definately the team that played the smarter rugby that won this one- credit to the Force for working out their opponents so well.

 

[The TRUTH]

YEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

Top of the table baby!!!! well,for atleast the next 7 hours.....

Better get drunk again and celebrate

 

[Mr. Laxative]

Um - just to put it in perspective, you still haven't won at HOME!!!

 

[melon]

Um - just to put it in perspective, you still haven't won at HOME!!! [/b]

Nonetheless, they are still on FIYAH!

 

[Wally]

Um - just to put it in perspective, you still haven't won at HOME!!!
[/b]

Thanks for that perspective. It's a good one that I hope everyone appreciates as much as me.

 

[Bull]

Congrats to the Force, the Bulls lost this one through their own stupidity. But Marius Jonker you're a c***!

 

[Juggernaut]

Congratulations to the Force.