Super Rugby Pacific | 02/15 08:35 | 1 | Western Force vs Moana Pasifika | - | View | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 02/22 08:35 | 2 | Brumbies vs Western Force | - | View | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 03/01 08:35 | 3 | Western Force vs Reds | - | View | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 03/08 08:35 | 4 | Waratahs vs Western Force | - | View | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 03/15 03:35 | 5 | Crusaders vs Western Force | - | View | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 03/23 06:05 | 6 | Western Force vs Fijian Drua | - | View |
Super Rugby Pacific | 06/01 09:35 | 15 | Western Force v Brumbies | L | 19-24 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 05/25 09:35 | 14 | Reds v Western Force | L | 59-13 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 05/18 09:35 | 13 | Western Force v Waratahs | W | 27-7 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 05/11 11:55 | 12 | Western Force v Fijian Drua | W | 48-10 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 05/04 07:05 | 11 | Chiefs v Western Force | L | 56-7 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 04/27 07:05 | 10 | Highlanders v Western Force | L | 7-6 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 04/20 09:35 | 9 | Western Force v Crusaders | W | 37-15 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 04/05 06:05 | 7 | Blues v Western Force | L | 50-3 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 03/30 01:05 | 6 | Fijian Drua v Western Force | L | 31-13 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 03/23 08:35 | 5 | Western Force v Reds | W | 40-31 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 03/15 11:00 | 4 | Western Force v Moana Pasifika | L | 14-22 | |
Super Rugby Pacific | 03/09 03:35 | 3 | Brumbies v Western Force | L | 22-19 |
The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. Following their axing they played in the National Rugby Championship in 2018 and 2019, replacing the Perth Spirit, and Global Rapid Rugby from 2018 to 2020, an Indo-Pacific competition organised by Andrew Forrest.
Following the cancellation of both the 2020 Super Rugby season and 2020 Global Rapid Rugby season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Western Force were invited to compete in the 2020 Super Rugby AU season, a domestic competition organised by Rugby Australia to replace the cancelled Super Rugby season. The Force competed in the 2021 Super Rugby AU season and Super Rugby Trans-Tasman, before being confirmed that their return to Super Rugby will be permanent in the revamped 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season.
On 10 February the Western Force made their 2006 season rugby debut against the Brumbies at a near sold out Subiaco Oval in Perth, losing 25–10. After this result, the Force had a difficult debut in Super 14. A one-sided loss to the Hurricanes and an ugly loss at home to the Chiefs in Perth followed. Many fans were unimpressed, with only approximately 23,000 turning up to watch a match against the Bulls. On 31 March, in front of 24,000, the Force came closest to their first win, losing 26–25 to the Stormers at Subiaco Oval. This was after leading 10–0 early on in the match. This was the Force's first competition point ever, and was the longest it had ever taken a side to get a point in Super rugby history (8 rounds/7 matches).
On 21 April a crowd of 32,231 saw the Force nearly pull off the upset of the year, drawing 23-all with the undefeated defending champion Crusaders. Though the Force were leading 7–0 after several minutes the feeling was still that the Crusaders would win, especially after they scored a try seconds later to make it 7–5. Only when the Force had blown the score out to 17–5 did anyone begin to talk of an upset. Leading 20–8 at half time the Force did not hold on for the win after the Crusaders scored two tries and a penalty within the closing half. At 23-all with seconds left the Force crashed over the line but were denied by the television match official.
Two days after the draw with the Crusaders, the Force were able to sign rising star Matt Giteau from the Brumbies, effective with the 2007 season. Giteau, whose contract with the Brumbies ended after the 2006 season, inked a three-year deal reportedly worth A$4.5 million, making him the highest-paid player in the history of any Australian football code.
On Saturday 6 May the Force announced they had managed to sign another player, Reds winger Drew Mitchell. However, during the same week the Force were fined $110,000 after an "independent committee found that Rugby WA had entered a negotiation process with Al Kanaar in a way that was contrary to and in breach of the contracting protocols." The Force notched up their first win by defeating the Cheetahs 16–14 on 6 May.
The Western Force continued to play in Super Rugby until the 2017 season. During this time they struggled to achieve much success, failing to qualify for the playoffs in a single season. Their best season came in 2007, where they finished 7th out of 14 teams. Ahead of the 2018 Super Rugby season, SANZAAR made the decision to reduce the competition from 18 to 15 teams, deciding to cut 2 South African teams and 1 Australian team. On 11 August 2017 it was announced that the Western Force would be the Australian team to be axed from Super Rugby.
In September 2017, Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest made plans to launch an Indo-Pacific Rugby tournament, consisting of the Western Force and other teams from the Indo-Pacific region. Several countries – such as Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore – expressed an interest in joining the new competition.
While organisation of the Indo-Pacific tournament was still underway, Andrew Forrest announced that the Western Force would play a series of matches in 2018 in what would be known as World Series Rugby. The Force played matches against Fiji A, Tonga A, Samoa A, the second tier national sides of those countries, along with the Hong Kong national team, Super Rugby sides Melbourne Rebels and the Crusaders, and Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights.
Andrew Forrest's Indo-Pacific Rugby tournament was officially announced as Global Rapid Rugby and began in 2019. The inaugural 2019 season consisted of a series of showcase matches with the competition adopting a full home and away round-robin format for the 2020 season. The Western Force played in Global Rapid Rugby against teams from Fiji, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Samoa and Singapore.
During this time the Western Force also played in the 2018 and 2019 National Rugby Championship seasons, replacing Perth Spirit, who had previously acted as a feeder team for the Force during their Super Rugby years. The National Rugby Championship was Australia's second-tier competition below Super Rugby, taking place after the Super Rugby season and featuring players who were not selected to play for the Australian national team in the test season, similar to New Zealand's Mitre 10 Cup and South Africa's Currie Cup. The Western Force finished 3rd in the 2018 season, being knocked out in the semi-finals, and won the 2019 season, beating the Canberra Vikings 41–3 in the final.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Global Rapid rugby season, which the Western Force were competing in, was cancelled. The pandemic had also caused the cancellation of the 2020 Super Rugby season, and international travel restrictions meant that it was unfeasible for the competition to continue in its current state, as it consisted of teams from 5 countries. Due to this, Rugby Australia launched a domestic competition known as Super Rugby AU, its inaugural 2020 season featuring the Western Force joining the current four Australian Super Rugby sides in a 12-week round robin tournament that ran from 3 July to 19 September.
The Western Force competed in the 2021 Super Rugby AU season, along with Super Rugby Trans-Tasman, a trans-tasman competition that featured the five Super Rugby AU teams taking on the five Super Rugby Aotearoa teams.
Super Rugby's future is uncertain, but a new, 12 team competition started in 2022. This competition includes the full time return of the Western Force, who competed against the four other Australian Super Rugby sides, the five New Zealand sides, a Fijian-based team Fijian Drua, and Moana Pasifika, a team composed of players with Pacific Islander heritage. The Force missed out on the Finals Series of the inaugural season by a single point.