Super Rugby Pacific: Western Force coach Simon Cron crestfallen after promising season ends on sour note
When the Force beat the Highlanders on April 5 to move into fourth spot, a first Super Rugby Pacific finals berth beckoned; instead the Force are now at risk of the wooden spoon after their super-point 22-17 loss to the Waratahs.
Darby Lancaster's spectacular 90th minute try after the sides could not be separated at the end of regulation gave the visitors a win to keep their own season alive while condemn the Force to a fifth loss in a row.
After their first bye, the Force failed to win and only picked up two points the rest of the season, coming in their first game post-break in a 17-17 super point draw with the Hurricanes.
While they had chances to beat the Waratahs, Cron conceded they were their own worst enemies and had made poor decisions.
Part of the reason for those errors was a lack of sharpness.
'There's a few things tout of our control a little bit in that last six game block. The S&C (strength and conditioning) department was telling me,we probably trained them six times in six weeks at any sort of intensity,' he said.
'That makes makes it more challenging as a coach, because you like to coach when you're on field but unfortunately, that's just the way the cookie crumbled this year with what we were doing.'
Injuries and a heavy travel schedule contributed to the Force's lack of high-intensity training in the second half of the season.
A swell of injuries to first-team players and key rotational pieces blighted the Force in the run home; starters Marley Pearce, Vaiolini Ekuasi and Divad Palu all missed long stretches through injury.
Prop Pearce's shoulder issue was compounded by starting-calibre front-rowers Harry Hoopert and Harry Johnson-Holmes both tearing ACLs before the season even began.
In recent weeks, star flanker Carlo Tizzano and important back-rower Nick Champion de Crespigny also missed time, while Wallabies duo Dylan Pietsch and Brandon Paenga-Amosa were restricted to seven games each.
'You're going to lose players at Super Rugby. It's just when we lose that many, we've just got to try and continue to build the depth behind that so that we don't get hunting worldwide,' Cron said.
The Force's second bye of the season comes next week, in the final league round of the season — something Cron has repeatedly complained about after his side travelled more than 49,000km in the air this season.
'Funnily enough, this is the boys' bye week, which lines up nicely with our season, giving the highest-travelled team a bye at the end,' Cron said.
But both Cron and captain Jeremy Williams conceded they butchered chances against the Waratahs and their decision-making eluded them.
'The big area of growth for us is our very brains in key moments, we sometimes make it a bit hard for ourselves,' Cron said.
'There are probably moments in the game I'd like over, potentially around those penalties and decisions to go to the corner; in hindsight now I would have loved to go to the points, so that's hurting me a fair bit,' Williams said.
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