Western Force coach John Mitchell, despite his team’s record 45-17 hammering of the Cheetahs at the weekend, are demanding his charges lift their standards significantly in order to meet the challenge that will be presented by the Blues this week.
The Force still have a remote, mathematical chance of sneaking into the Super 14 play-offs.
It would required of them to secure a bonus-point win over the Blues and then for the Blues or the Bulls (who face the bottom-placed Reds) not to get a single point from the final round. It would also require the Force to beat the Blues by at least 42 points, to get ahead of them on points difference.
A tall order indeed, but Mitchell is confident they can achieve their goal if they improve on what they did against the Cheetahs at the weekend.
“That is all we have done is keep ourselves alive, but there were parts of the performance that were pretty sloppy and if we were playing someone better they would have probably dealt with us,” Mitchell said.
“We forgot about doing the hard stuff for parts of the match, and against the Blues if we run across field and don’t straighten we will get put away.
“We set high standards, and we just want to do better.”
Western Force captain Nathan also felt his team will have to step up against the Blues. at Subiaco Oval in Perth this Friday.
“We played some very attractive football, but we probably got a little bit carried away with it,” Sharpe said.
“But the pleasing thing is that we rallied to that. The guys were happy with that performance, but we will have to be a lot tighter this week.”
The Force still have a remote, mathematical chance of sneaking into the Super 14 play-offs.
It would required of them to secure a bonus-point win over the Blues and then for the Blues or the Bulls (who face the bottom-placed Reds) not to get a single point from the final round. It would also require the Force to beat the Blues by at least 42 points, to get ahead of them on points difference.
A tall order indeed, but Mitchell is confident they can achieve their goal if they improve on what they did against the Cheetahs at the weekend.
“That is all we have done is keep ourselves alive, but there were parts of the performance that were pretty sloppy and if we were playing someone better they would have probably dealt with us,” Mitchell said.
“We forgot about doing the hard stuff for parts of the match, and against the Blues if we run across field and don’t straighten we will get put away.
“We set high standards, and we just want to do better.”
Western Force captain Nathan also felt his team will have to step up against the Blues. at Subiaco Oval in Perth this Friday.
“We played some very attractive football, but we probably got a little bit carried away with it,” Sharpe said.
“But the pleasing thing is that we rallied to that. The guys were happy with that performance, but we will have to be a lot tighter this week.”
365 Digital
