Super Rugby Pacific Round 2: Rebels vs Force

ROUND 2

Rebels FORCE

2022

VS

WESTERN FORCE VS Rebels SAT 26 FEB AAMI Park, Melbourne

COMING UP...

MEN’S TEAM

WOMEN’S TEAM

$

DOUBLE HEADER

F

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

FRI 4 MAR 7PM

SUN 13 MAR 12PM

SAT 19 MAR 11.35AM

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

FRI 4 MAR 4.30PM

SUN 13 MAR 1.15PM

SAT 19 MAR 9AM

H O M E

G A M E

A W A Y

G A M E

A W A Y

G A M E

WHERE TO WATCH THE GAME $9 pints of Spinifex

with the presentation of your membership card

$9 pints of Spinifex

with the presentation of your membership card

For those Members lucky enough to live in Perth, the Force has secured three venues where we can guarantee that every Western Force Super Rugby Pacific away game will be on the big screen.

Choose the location that best suits you — the Brisbane Hotel (central), the Berrigan Bar and Bistro (south) and the Woodvale Tavern (north). In addition to being surrounded by the Sea of Blue, show your membership card at the bar to purchase a $9 pint of Spinifex.

Spinifex Brewing Co is an Aboriginal and Veteran-owned Australian company. It has developed a high-quality, uniquely Australian beer that excites the palette. The Spinifex range includes Myrtle Summer Ale, Ginger Beer, Honey Myrtle Ale, WA Pale Ale, F88 Lager, Lighthorse Lager and the brand-new Cable Beach Sunset Ale.

Your Perth solution for all design, printing, signage and promotional needs.

LETTER

FROM THE CEO Dear Western Force Members, Supporters, and Family, Welcome to Round 2 of the Super Rugby Pacific season.

Last week in the capital, we played a courageous game and came agonisingly close to sealing an opening-round win over the Brumbies, but it was not to be following a lastminute try. It was a very promising start to the campaign, but as an organisation, it was frustrating, as we are here to win!

Congratulations to Force debutants Bayley Kuenzle, Manasa Mataele, Reesjan Pasitoa and Izack Rodda, as well as coaches Mark Ozich and Paul Tito, for their first game with the club.

involving our women’s and men’s teams, I implore all Members, supporters and lovers of rugby to be there on 4 March.

The team needs you and your mates at the ground to be our 16th person cheering us on! It is our job to be loud and inspire the team to victory.

I know the players and coaches are determined to build on the positives and take it to the Rebels this Saturday at AAMI Park.

The game against the Rebels is an important one, as it’s imperative we return home to Perth with momentum and a win to our name.

With a Friday night blockbuster doubleheader confirmed for Round 3 against the Queensland Reds at HBF Park

Anthony J Lewis CEO, Western Force

3

HEAD

HEAD

eleti 2 Jordan Kaitu’u Uelese

27 Age

Hooker Position

31

METRES GAINED 4

183cM

25

3

Hooker

Height

Wallabies Caps

21

Super Rugby Caps

Age

189cM Height

15

Position

Wallabies Caps

22

37

METRES GAINED

Super Rugby Caps

Jordan Uelese scores a try for the Wallabies Rugby Championship, 2021

Feleti Kaitu’u Australian Wallabies Captain’s Run

Jordan Uelese tackled during the International Test match against Manu Samoa Bankwest Stadium, 2019

Joe Powell and Frank Lomani tackle Feleti Kaitu’u Super RugbyAU Rebels vs Western Force, 2021

MATCH PREVIEW

The Rugby Wrap podcast, hosted by Mitch Hardy, Heath Tessmann and Mick Colliss

Richard Kahui celebrating the Round 8 win in 2021

Neither team came away with a W in Round 1. The Western Force came away with an extra point due to their narrow defeat to the Brumbies. The Force will be licking their lips at the prospect of taking on a wounded Rebel’s outfit.

The Force pack was good the past Sunday, with Rodda and Lee-Warner the standouts, closely followed by a solid performance from the front and back rows. The tight five will be vital in this game, and the Force should have the upper hand. We expect plenty of pressure at set-piece time from the Force big men.

The Force showed their back three have the scoring ability that is an improvement from 2021. Toni Pulu, Manasa Matele and Jake Strachan combined well on several occasions and looked to get involved. The Rebels need to be careful not to kick aimlessly and play into their hands as these three will be looking to return the ball with interest.

The midfield was disrupted last weekend with the early departure of Bayley Kuenzle, but Richard Kahui did a great job. Kyle Godwin could be forgiven for his couple of errors first 6

game up, and hopefully, coach Tim Sampson will put these two together again in the midfield to build on their combination.

The Rebels were untidy last weekend, and the Force should have the edge at set-piece time. A lot will be riding on the shoulders of the Melbourne club’s halves and Matt Toomua to control the game. Reece Hodge had a match last week he would rather forget, so changes may be made to the Rebel’s backline for the Round 2 encounter.

All things point to the Force winning this game and head back West with a one and one result.

Tim Anstee scores a try

Andrew Ready breaks through a tackle

Tom Robertson battles it out with the Rebels

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RugbyWA EMERGING ACADEMY

The RugbyWA Emerging Academy is a dedicated development program for 28 talented young players aged 15 to 18. Training three times a week, the program develops individual skills, game understanding, and physical capabilities.

Several senior players in the RugbyWA Emerging Academy are hoping to graduate into the Fortescue Western Force Academy at the end of the 2022 season. The ultimate goal of the Academy is to develop world-class professional rugby union players who are prepared to play on the national and international stage.

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Current Western Force players who were part of the Emerging Academy includes Kyle Godwin, Kane Koteka, Brad Lacey, Jackson Pugh, Michael McDonald and Reesjan Pasitoa. We are seeing a lot of exciting talent in this year’s RugbyWA Emerging Academy and look forward to developing future stars of Western Force.

KICK AND WIN!

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DRIVE A NEW TOYOTA FOR A YEAR INCLUDING FUEL.

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Birthplace: Sydney, New South Wales Date of birth: 19 May, 1997 Position: Flanker/Lock Height: 194cm Weight: 100kg Super Rugby appearances: 13

PLAYER PROFILE

TIM ANSTEE

WHICH JUNIOR CLUB DID YOU PLAY FOR? Hills Junior Rugby Union.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE RUGBY MEMORY? 2003 World Cup in Australia.

WHICH PREMIER GRADE CLUB ARE YOU AFFILIATED WITH?

Wanneroo.

IF YOU WERE REINCARNATED AS AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Baby giraffe.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE RUGBY MEMORY?

Winning the 2018 Sydney 7s playing for Australia.

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basketball range out now 20 C A S U A L R A N G E 22 bASKETBALL SINGLET

GET YOUR GAME on

WESTERN FORCE Tom Robertson

1

Feleti Kaitu’u (c)

2

santiago medrano

3

fergus lee-warner 4 izack rodda

5

brynard stander

6

kane koteka

7

tim anstee

8

ian prior

9

reesjan pasitoa 10 manasa mataele 11 Richard Kahui 12 kyle godwin (vc) 13 toni pulu 14 jake strachan 15 16 aNDREW READY 17 HARRISON LLOYD 18 GREG HOLMES 19 RYAN MCCAULEY 20 OLLIE CALLAN 21 ISSAK FINES-LELEIWASA 22 JAKE MCINTYRE 23 byron ralston

12

Rebels 1

cameron orr

2

jordan uelese

3

cabous eloff

4

matt philip (vc)

5

ross haylett-petty

6

sam wallis

7

brad wilkin

8

michael wells

9

joe powell (c)

10 matt to’omua 11

glen vaihu

12

raymond nu’u

13

stacey ili

14 lachlan anderson 15

reece hodge

16 james hanson 17 matt gibbon 18 sef fa’agase 19 thomas nowlan 20 tamati ione 21 james tuttle 22 carter gordon 23 young tonumaipea

Follow the gAme Live on social media for further Updates and highlight as they happen!

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Super W 2022

Round 1 FRI 4 MAR 4.30PM

The Western Force will open its Buildcorp Super W campaign with a Friday blockbuster double-header against the Queensland Reds at HBF Park on 4 March.

It’s set to be a massive season for the Force, with two home games to be played in Perth for the first time since 2019.

After the season opener, the Force travel east for back-to-back clashes at Leichardt Oval in Sydney when they take on the defending champion NSW Waratahs in Round 2 and Fijiana Drua for the very first time in Round 3.

A competition-wide bye is scheduled for Round 4 before the Force heads to the capital to take on the ACT Brumbies in Round 5. The Force round out the regular season when they battle the Melbourne Rebels at HBF Park (Round 6).

CEO Tony Lewis is looking forward to live Super W returning to WA. 14

“Opening the season with a doubleheader at HBF Park is fantastic news for all WA rugby fans. With no home games played last year, we’re incredibly excited to see live Super W action back in Perth,” Lewis explained.

“We can’t wait to see the team build on the momentum garnered from last year’s campaign in what promises to be a thrilling 2022 campaign.”

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15

MATCH Officials

The announced the referee appointments for Round 2

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Referee Jordan Way

Assistant Ref 1 Damon Murphy

Assistant Ref 2 Rueben Keane

TMO James Leckie

No 4 Brodie Ingram

No 5 Ben Reedy

The driving force the team behind the team

Helen Novatscou

Membership and Ticketing Operations Manager With 27 years of experience in the membership and ticketing industry, Helen strives to grow the Membership base (the Sea of Blue) and has a love of rugby. Helen says the Members are the heart and soul of the Western Force, and their passion makes it easy to love her work!

Dylan Parsons

Senior Skills Coach and Academy Head Coach Dylan is in charge of developing the rugby skill sets of all players in the club (senior squad and academy players). His favourite part of the job is seeing the growth and motivation of the players he works with when they understand the methods and see the improvements.

Luke Cooke

Head of Performance Analysis Luke’s role involves the analysis of all training and game footage to help the team improve specific areas of their overall performances. From the capturing of footage and gathering of all necessary analytics, ‘Cookie’ is the stats man! Cookie revels in the professional rugby environment and being part of the Force family.

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Pathways Dylan Parsons

Senior Skills Coach and Western Force Fortescue Academy Head Coach

The six Fortescue Academy players – Sifa Amone, Luke Callan, George Poolman, Ned Slack-Smith, Andrew Romano and Campbell Parata — have been relishing the opportunity to travel, tour and train over east with the senior squad.

They’re gaining invaluable experience observing and working alongside the senior players to see first-hand what it takes to be a professional rugby player.

There are many challenges that they’ve faced and overcome already — primarily being away from home at a young age without their family for four weeks. But, having spoken with all of them, I know they’re really excited by the opportunity to be there and are enjoying every minute.

Five of the six Academy players on tour — Amone, Callan, Poolman, SlackSmith and Romano — played over the two trial games against the Reds at Ballymore, which was a priceless experience, especially against the reigning Super Rugby AU champions.

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One of the significant strengths we have here at the Force is the integration of the Fortescue Academy with the senior squad. As a result, they get to share experiences with the pro players and be mentored by them on a daily basis, which will prove to fasttrack their development.

With the main squad away, the rest of the Academy squad has focused on preparations ahead of the Fortescue Premier Grade club rugby season.

We have a lot of new young players who have joined the Academy this season. Right now, we’re focusing on developing the habits and behaviours that produce consistency to ensure they back it up day-to-day and weekto-week at a high standard.

Sifa Amone

Luke Callan

George Poolman

Andrew Romano

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