Yes, Force had a painfully difficult night against the Auckland Blues at Eden Park even though their first half wasn’t bad (12-7) + the early 10-20 mins of the 2nd part. 

Unfortunately, Force were simply blown away by the Blues stronghold bench where the margin gets bigger and bigger over time and there was no stopping Blues towards the end – not even winning a losing bonus point would add a bit more suffering when it comes to the Top 6 Finals race. The final score was 40-19.

Going into the weekend with four games still to play including the rare Sunday afternoon outing, Force now sit 7th and Blues back in the zone just one place ahead in 6th as of Round 12 out of 16.

Here are the games that are coming up between tomorrow and Sunday:

• Fijian Drua v Reds in Suva tomorrow at 12pm AEST
• Hurricanes v Chiefs in Wellington tomorrow at 5pm AEST
• Brumbies v Waratahs in Canberra tomorrow at 7.30pm
• Highlanders v Moana Pasifika in Dunedin at 1.30pm Sunday

For Force, they have the last three being difficult with the Brumbies first next Saturday night, Drua away in Fiji and the Waratahs later this month for Round 15.

All they could to is bring that home crowd noise and who knows? They could bring up a surprise and have an extended shot in the Finals come next month for Force.

Plus, Blues got back-to-back Pasifika opponents in Drua next Friday and Moana Saturday week. Then they will take the week off on the second last round before they finish the regular run off v Waratahs.   

Top 3 players of the night 

AJ Lam – what a difference he’s made as the Blues reserve 15 in the 2nd half who can also play in other positions within the backline. He deserves a deeper run so Blues could make Finals once again & if he can do that, then Scott Robertson should consider him as his back-ups for the ABs.

There’s Cole Forbes has International suitors following his two-try haul on the outside back right. Cole had success in the past in Scotland likewise with coach Vern Cotter whose tactics got the better of his running rugby and now he’s ready to put his International standing on the map.

Bummer for Force whose good start with Carlo Tizzano still scoring were slipped away later where Blues got the better bench than them. But one player who’s still got it was Kurtley Beale following his long lay-off from Achilles injury. 

He knows where to funnel around & cash in whose contribution in the remaining rounds would hopefully give Joe Schmidt food for thought v the Lions – probably as back-up in the green and gold again.