General

Show of Force in city

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The Western Force were out and about in the CBD today as they prepare for their second run in the new Global Rapid Rugby competition.

Street performers as well as a number of Force players were in the city to promote their clash with the South China Tigers this Friday night at HBF Park.

Teams from Fiji, Hong Kong, Samoa and Singapore will compete against the Force. Photo: Jacob O’Reilly.

The Force are coming off a 26-16 win against the World XV in what was the first taste of a new look for rugby union.

Force head coach Tim Sampson says he was impressed with the crowd of more than 11,000 at last week’s season opener and hopes getting out into the community will help maintain solid crowd numbers

“That was an outstanding turnout for the first game of the year, we’ve got a wonderful fan base, the sea of blue were awesome.

“It’s a focus for us to get out and try and get new people to start following the Force and Global Rapid Rugby, if we get around that (attendance figure of 11,000) then it’s a great start to the year,” he said.

Global Rapid Rugby is hoping to make a big impression in Perth. Photo: Jacob O’Reilly.

On the field there have been five changes to the starting lineup from last week, most notably off-season recruit Andrew Ready will make his Force debut after arriving from the Queensland Reds.

Harrison Lloyd, Masivesi Dakuwaqa and Leon Power also come into the starting lineup after cameo appearances off the bench against the World XV, Rodney Iona will make his first appearance for the year.

Sampson says the rotation of the starting XV is testament to the depth of the squad.

“After a long pre-season you’ve got to give guys an opportunity to play in these first few fixtures and put their best foot forward,” he said.

“We pride ourselves on how deep we can go in our squad and I’m sure the guys [coming in] will play well.”

Friday night’s game kicks off at 7:40pm at HBF Park, more information on pre and post-game entertainment can be found here: https://www.westernforce.com.au/game-day-information-force-v-south-china-tigers/.

Categories: General