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Western Force v Bay of Plenty, HBF Park, Perth - 16 July 2021

ForceFan

Chilla Wilson (44)
Should be an entertaining end-of-season game.
Some good local talent on show.

BAY-OF-PLENTY2-2048x1152.jpg bopteam.jpg

A late change, but very exciting to see Force Fortescue Academy player Finn O'Callaghan (Winger - Nedlands) join fellow academy talent Zantana Pomare (BRow - Nedlands) on the team list.

With no NRC this year this is an opportunity to test some local club players at a higher level.
 

ForceFan

Chilla Wilson (44)
Longbottom starts in swan song
July 14, 2021
The Western Force is back in action this Friday in front of the Sea of Blue when they take on New Zealand provincial side the Bay of Plenty.
With Force legend Kieran Longbottom and club stalwart Chris Heiberg making their final appearances for the club, it’s set to be a special occasion with kick-off at 7:30pm.
Read more.....
 

Dan54

Tim Horan (67)
This game is great idea to me, a game of rugby for the sake of a game. Western Force surely are leading the way in Australia in being innovative in promoting the game in their area. You certainly see why one would suspect they will be a powerhouse in Australia in a few years.
 

VassMan

Darby Loudon (17)
Wishful thinking, but after this it would be great if Force went to NZ for two games against two more NPC teams as their warm ups before competition starts and development tour for Force.
 

Dan54

Tim Horan (67)
Wishful thinking, but after this it would be great if Force went to NZ for two games against two more NPC teams as their warm ups before competition starts and development tour for Force.

I think if anyone would do it VM, it would be Force.
 

ForceFan

Chilla Wilson (44)
Good to see the local curtain raiser.
Wests Scarborough vs Perth Bayswater
Game starts at 05:30 PM
Gates open at 5:00 PM
 

Dan54

Tim Horan (67)
Just looking at that BOP line up, it pretty good, looks to be there top line up to me. Got the makings of a good game.
I find it quite interesting the relationship between BOP and Force. How did it come about, is someone there a mate of Twiggy's?
I think it good, I like the idea of teams/provinces from different countries having a tie in like this.
 

ForceFan

Chilla Wilson (44)
I find it quite interesting the relationship between BOP and Force. How did it come about, is someone there a mate of Twiggy's?
I think it good, I like the idea of teams/provinces from different countries having a tie in like this.

After the WF was axed, backed by Andrew Forrest (through his private company Minderoo/Tattarang), the WF commenced discussions around growing the game of rugby in the Indo-Pacific region.

The meant Matt Hodgson talking to all National rugby unions in that region from South Africa to Hawaii and from China/Japan to Perth.
These discussions progressed through from 2017 through 2019.
During 2019, the East Gauteng Falcons linked with Malaysia/Bangkok and the Bay of Plenty with Shanghai/China.
As I understand it the intent was to backfill/channel players from past Super Rugby level players and Currie Cup/ITM to boost these clubs to assist in developing local talent.
Global Rapid Rugby was realised in 2020 but only got the single Round in before COVID disrupted the whole footprint region.

It seems that there were plenty of talks between WF and NZ Rugby during 2020 and prior to the formation of SRAu.
There was even talks about the WF possibly playing in the NZ SRAo.
Maybe they were going to be based in the BoP area?
However, none of us plebs are aware of the nature or extent of those talks.

I covered the history of this period in a series of posts on the WF 2021 thread in March - threads #684 thru #693.

I understand there were talks during the scenario planning associated with the early days of Covid of maybe having Fiji playing out of NZ, Samoa out of maybe Brisbane and other options for the Hong Kong and China.

I can only assume that the bonds between BoP and the WF began and were strengthened during this period.

It would also have been assisted with Tony Lewis, ex CEO of Tasman Makos, joining the WF as CEO of WF/GRR.

It seems apparent to me that the current SRAu and SRAo (NZ) are maybe only with us during these COVID times.
There is plenty of chat of what will/may happen post-Covid (and none of us know when that will be).

I reckon that discussions around the Global Rapid Rugby initiative and efforts to grow the game of rugby in the region are not dead as confirmed by Andrew Forrest's ongoing $$ backing of rugby in WA.
 

RugbyReg

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
CRAZY BIG. A leaguie too. Will be interesting to follow his journey.

Anyone seen him play?
 

todd4

Jim Clark (26)
I haven't seen him. I've retired to QLD. From his photo he doesn't look like he's carrying any flab. Just a big solid young bloke. I hope he's got some talent to go with his size.
 

Up the Guts

Steve Williams (59)
You’re right, looks a lot leaner than Skelton did at that weight. I note flanker/8, must have some handles as well.
 

Equalizer

Phil Hardcastle (33)
Force win 24 to BOP 19. Ollie Callan, FLW (Fergus Lee-Warner), Jake Strachan and Andrew Ready second half tries.
 

The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
Pretty terrible game in the first half, but oddly the handling got better when it started raining in the second. The Force played OK, but coughed up a lot of pill early. They did score a couple of nice tries though. I thought BoP gave plenty and could have won tonight. Some big shots in defence from them.
 

ForceFan

Chilla Wilson (44)
Force seal tough win over Bay of Plenty
July 16, 2021

The Western Force bid farewell to Kieran Longbottom and Chris Heiberg in style following a 24-19 win over a resilient Bay of Plenty side at HBF Park.
After a fast start from the Steamers, the Force piled on four second half tries to open up a 17-point lead before Bay of Plenty charged home with a late fightback to narrow the deficit. It proved too little too late as the Force claimed a strong victory in front of the Sea of Blue.
Read more.....
 

Dan54

Tim Horan (67)
Sound great, was crowd good? I really wish there was maore of these matches. Great build up for kiwi teams for NPC and really good to get rugby for the non Wallabies in Aus teams.
 

VassMan

Darby Loudon (17)
Big Zantana got on with a few minutes to go, did one good hit up and packed at loosehead lock in the scrum. Without NRC I think this could be the best way of getting development games for non Wallabies. Didn't see an announcement of crowd, but still a decent showing, I'm going to guess 5000, please correct me if wildly off haha, plenty of vocal BoP supporters with jerseys too!
 
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