Having finally secured back-to-back victories for the first time in nearly three years on Saturday, perennial Super Rugby cellar dwellers the Western Force have a mountain to climb if they are to make it three in a row.
Not only do the Force welcome the Waikato Chiefs to Perth next weekend but they are almost certain to take on the Super Rugby champions without their inspirational No 8 Ben McCalman.
McCalman was cited for a spear tackle on Otago Highlanders prop Kame Hames in the 72nd minute of the Force’s 31-29 victory in Dunedin on Saturday.
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Rugby officials are determined to rid the game of the spear, or tip, tackle because of the risk of head injuries and McCalman faces a ban of up to four weeks for the offence.
The 25-year-old received only a yellow card on the pitch, one of two sin-binnings that reduced the Force to 13 men as they clung on for an impressive victory over the Highlanders.
The Force clearly have the hex on the Highlanders – Saturday’s was their sixth successive Super Rugby victory over the team from New Zealand’s southern tip – but they had never before gained successive bonus point wins.
“These guys have worked very hard for the past 16 months, and I think there’s a little bit of validation there,” coach Michael Foley said.
“The guys who have been at the club for a long time haven’t had the good fortune of getting back-to-back bonus point wins before.
“It gives them a lot of belief. It doesn’t mean we’ll always get it right. But it does prove that all the hard work and the effort they put in for each other is worthwhile.”
Former Wallabies hooker Foley is in his second season at the Force, who have finished no better than 12th in the 15-team competition in the last four years.
Their victory over the Highlanders put them an early third in the Australian conference behind the ACT Brumbies and New South Wales Waratahs.
Their next challenge, though, is to take on the Chiefs, who have won the title for the last two years and beaten the Force six times in their seven previous encounters.
Captain Matt Hodgson said the victory over the Highlanders would help them in their quest for three straight wins for the first time since the team’s second season in 2007.
“It’s going well. We feel like we’re playing good footy, starting matches strong and, like you saw there, finishing the game well with only 13 men,” he said in a pitchside interview in Dunedin.
“We’ll now take our time to look at that game, head back to Perth and look at the Chiefs on Monday.”