Western Force head coach Simon Cron wants his players to embrace the challenge of the Chiefs this Saturday, saying “it’s the dog we feed”.
The Force face the top-four hopeful Chiefs in Hamilton from 3:05pm WST Saturday, with the home side boasting New Zealand internationals like Damian McKenzie, Anton Lienert-Brown and Tupo Vaa’i.
“You’ve got some great players,” Cron told reporters on Friday. “It’s what we do with that, how we react to it, it’s the dog we feed and us getting into it early on from kick-off.
“They’re a good side and they have been for a couple of years now. They went through a phase a few years ago where they were all young and growing through. They’ve got a lot of All Blacks across the park, it’s good for us, it’s what we want.”
The Force went down narrowly 7-6 to the Highlanders last week but remain in the top-eight race, sitting only five points behind the eighth-placed Otago side. With five games to go, Cron remained hopeful they could make their move.
“I think what you see at the moment, it’s going to be interesting over the next three-four rounds,” he said. “We’ve got to do what we do and control games. It’s our opportunity.”
The Force will be without experienced duo Nic White (knee) and Sam Carter (hamstring) but Cron said that offered opportunities to others to step up.
Among those is captain Jeremy Williams who will start at lock for the first time since Round 5.
“Those two boys have played really well,” Cron said about White and Carter. “They’ve been leaders in our team. But we’ve got to grow that within our squad.
“It gives Finesy (Issak Fines-Leleiwasa) an opportunity to step forward. It gives (debutant) Henry (Robertson) a chance on the bench.
“It also gives people like Tom Franklin, Reed Prinsep and Kurtley Beale opportunities to lead on field and step up and do their roles and drive the team.
“Lead by the way you play is the way for Jez (Williams). He’s a big body, we’ve missed him. You could see that when he came on off the bench (against the Highlanders), we got some good go-forward in the middle of the field.
“The big message for Jez is lead doing, lead by your actions, lead by the way you play and the rest will follow.”
On the duo’s injuries, Cron added: “I think Whitey will be much better off for this week but Carts is a few weeks with his injury.”
Saturday’s game will likely see Henry Robertson make his Force debut off the bench, with Cron calling him “the ultimate team man”. Back-rower Will Harris and hooker Tom Horton will also bring up 50 Super Rugby caps each.
Horton has played the second-most minutes of any Force forward this season (593), scoring three tries and having a team third-best 95 successful tackles, behind Carlo Tizzano (148) and Hamish Stewart (118) who are in Super Rugby’s top five.
Harris, who joined from the Waratahs in the off-season, has played eight games this season and has a team-high 10 dominant tackles with 41 ball carries for 263 carry metres.
“They’re both guys that have played a lot of minutes for us this year,” Cron said. “Horto has been over-played. He’s done so much good work for the team. He’s a high work-rate hooker, he deserves 50 Super Rugby caps. He also deserves to win.
“Will Harris has done a lot since arriving at the club. He’s constantly learning. He’s 23 and he’s constantly picking your brains about the game and how to play.
“He’ll only get stronger, better and faster with an increased rugby brain which he’s working on every day so you’ll see him really start to the progress in Australian rugby.”
