Western Force lock Jeremy Williams says side not focused on other results ahead of do-or-die Chiefs clash

The carrot of an inaugural Super Rugby Pacific finals spot is dangling for the Western Force, and an understrength Chiefs side - and a couple of other permutations - stand in their way. But lock Jeremy Williams has insisted his teammates are not getting complacent and says they are focused more on winning their game than keeping an eye on other results. If the Force win, they would need one of the Reds and Highlanders to lose to the Brumbies (fourth place) or the Blues (third place) respectively to secure a finals spot. The Force made the Super Rugby Australia finals series in 2021 - when they finished third in a five-team league - but have never played finals in the expanded comepetiton. While Williams said it would be an amazing feeling to be part of a team which broke the finals hoodoo, he knew they could not afford to get ahead of themselves “We’re not too worried about any other game, we’re just going to be worried about, who we’ve got this weekend, making sure we get the win this and then looking forward to finals when it comes,” he said. “It’d obviously be a pretty cool thing to to achieve as a team, but then again, we’ve just got to be focused on what we’re going to do this week.” With two internationals returning to the forward pack this week in the form of Wallaby Izack Rodda and Argentinian Santiago Medrano, Williams backed the two stars to make a difference after their scrum struggled in their 52-14 loss to the Melbourne Rebels last week. “It’s good to get Santi back this week, he’s had a couple of weeks off with injury, he’ll bring a lot of aggression and getting us move forward on our set pieces,” he said. “I’m really keen to lace the boots up with Izack, I did it once in preseason, and it’s always a good experience to get alongside him, see how he goes about his prep.” The Chiefs have sewn up top spot on the ladder and have wrung the changes, resting nine All-Blacks this weekend, but New Zealand international Anton Lienert-Brown will be taking the field, and the centre said the replacements had a point to prove. “From 1-36, we back the depth in our squad and and there’s an opportunity for a lot of boys to pull the jumper on to start for our team,” he said. “We don’t expect our standards to drop - we expect the same as any other week.”