Blues power past Force into play-off zone
Western Force captain Michael Wells has blasted his side’s lack of competitiveness, suggesting they were “bullied” in a 30-17 loss to the Blues at Eden Park.
The Force made the Blues work for it early and didn’t concede a try until the 29th minute, but were ultimately put away comfortably at Eden Park in their second straight defeat.
It leaves them still searching for their first win against a New Zealand-based side since returning to the competition in 2021, without a victory in seven attempts.
They stay in NZ and battle the Hurricanes next weekend, with Wells begging his teammates to lift and leave the road trip with a win.
“Words are cheap right now and our actions need to speak a bit louder,” he said.
“We’ve got to focus on our jobs here and we haven’t been doing our jobs and that’s on a personal level as well as a team level.
“We go to Palmerston North on Thursday, and really, we need to get something out of this tour, we need to come back with some points and so we need to regroup.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve been carried through and carried over and we really need to fire up, particularly our forwards.”
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The Perth side matched it with opponents at the breakdown and forced some early penalties, although a missed shot at goal combined with Gareth Simpson failing to find touch from a kick meant they had no points to show for it.
A spectacular try from Blues winger Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, where he soared over his Force opponent and grounded the ball while falling on his back, broke the Force’s resistance and when Ofa Tu’ungafasi powered over late in the first half they’d quickly skipped away to an 18-0 lead.
“We weren’t good enough over the ball, which put our halves under pressure, gave us scrappy ball, didn’t give us a good enough platform to actually attack from,” Wells said.
“There were positives, [but] obviously, out of losses, you’re probably going to focus on the negatives a lot more.
“It was the attacking breakdown, we got a bit bullied there and with all due respect they rested a few guys.
“If we really want to compete, we’re going to have to execute better and we probably weren’t up to scratch today [Sunday].”
Wells had dragged some points back in the first half via a clever kick from fullback Chase Tiatia, while Toni Pulu scored in the second half to quickly answer Blue Mark Telea’s effort to make the score 23-10.
Ricky Riccitelli extended the margin quickly and the Blues iced the game, with Force winger Zach Kibirige finding a late consolation try with a brilliant run two minutes from time.
Simon Cron’s side moves to 2-3 for the season but stay 10th on the table, with only the NSW Waratahs and Moana Pasifika behind them.
It was yet another reminder of NZ’s Super Rugby domination, their teams 8-1 this season when playing against Australian sides.
“We knew the Force was going to come and bring it in, they’re a really persistent team that you can’t switch off (against) and we obviously saw that in the last 10 minutes,” Blues captain Harry Plummer said.
“They’re just full of running rugby and it’s hard to play with, so we’re happy with a win.”
The scorers
For the Blues
Tries: Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, Tuungafasi, Telea, Riccitelli
Cons: Perofeta 2
Pens Perofeta 2
For the Western Force
Tries: Wells, Pulu, Kibirige
Con: Stewart
Teams
Blues: 15 Zarn Sullivan, 14 Jacob Ratumaintavuki-Kneepkens, 13 Bryce Heem, 12 Harry Plummer (captain), 11 Mark Telea, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Sam Nock, 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Adrian Choat, 6 Anton Segner, 5 Cameron Suafoa, 4 James Tucker, 3 Ofa Tuungafasi, 2 Kurt Eklund, 1 Joshua Fusitu’a.
Replacements: 16 Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Jordan Lay, 18 Marcel Renata, 19 Tom Robinson, 20 Sam Darry, 21 Taine Plumtree, 22 Taufa Funaki, 23 AJ Lam/Corey Evans.
Western Force: 15 Chase Tiatia, 14 Zach Kibirige, 13 Sam Spink, 12 Hamish Stewart, 11 Toni Pulu, 10 Bryce Hegarty, 9 Gareth Simpson, 8 Rahboni Vosayaco, 7 Tim Anstee, 6 Michael Wells (captain), 5 Jeremy Williams, 4 Felix Kalapu, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Angus Wagner.
Replacements: 16 Tom Horton, 17 Marley Pearce, 18 Siosifa Amone, 19 Ryan McCauley, 20 Ollie Callan, 21 Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, 22 Bayley Kuenzle, 23 George Poolman.
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe
Assistant referees: Stu Curran & Jackson Henshaw
TMO: Shane McDermott
