Richard Kahui speaks so passionately about the special journey of the Western Force that you’d swear he was born on Trigg Beach in Perth not in Tokoroa.
The magic to the Force uprising truly is that players from so many countries and backgrounds have meshed brilliantly with one united purpose as Western Australia’s rugby team.
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Kahui has become the emblem of that bond more than anyone because he was around through the winless 2020 campaign and he’s so extrovertly into the success of all those around him in 2021.
The former All Black winger-centre can play a bit too. That left-footed grubber kick to set up the matchwinning try for English winger Jordan Olowefela was nerveless, spontaneous precision against the Queensland Reds last Friday night.
As important, was his tackle to help hold up Reds centre Josh Flook on the tryline on full-time to win back possession.
Kahui has a 2011 Rugby World Cup winner’s medal, he’s swigged from the Bledisloe Cup, he’s beaten the Springboks in Cape Town and he has been part of the 2012 Chiefs squad than won Super Rugby. He's climbed rugby’s highest peaks.
At 35, he’ll also tell you that when a team comes together in that rare way, as the Force have done, you want to ride the wave as far as you can take it.
The Force have been the success story of 2021 whether they win or lose Saturday night’s Super Rugby AU qualifying final against the ACT Brumbies at Canberra’s GIO Stadium.
“We’re trying to create something really special here. We’ve been playing grand finals for the past three weeks so every game has been must-win for us so this is no different,” Kahui said.
“Personally, I feel relaxed, I feel the preparation has been really good and we’ve gained quite a bit of momentum as a team which has relieved a bit of the anxiety around this game.
“At the same time it’s important to acknowledge it is different, it is a semi-final and we have a chance to do something the Force have not done before.”
Even on a three-game winning roll, the Force won’t define success until they’ve had a huge crack at skittling the Brumbies.
They are unloved 15-point underdogs or $6 shots in this two-horse race.
That’s a whole lot more fancied than Argentina were in Sydney last November, right? Los Pumas pulled off one of sport’s great upsets against the All Blacks.
Halfback Tomas Cubelli and prop Santiago Medrano, now in Force blue not Argentinian blue, won’t ever use the word “impossible” after that.
“I think we’ve been underdogs at $6, $15, $20 all year, haven’t we it? It doesn’t matter, we can’t bet on ourselves anyway otherwise we would,” Kahui said with a grin.
“I can completely understand how other people see us...we’re playing the defending champions at their ground and success is part of their DNA.
“I think we are every chance of beating the Brumbies. I don’t think they are much better than us. We can win and if we get our game going we can really put them under the pump.”
Kahui’s enthusiasm for the cause has been infectious much like that of scrum rock Greg Holmes, the 2011 Super Rugby-winner who is almost at grey nomad age at 37.
Why does Kahui care so much?
Part of it is wrapped up in how much collectively has been put in by players from New Zealand, Argentina, veterans of the Force, Aussies coming back from abroad like Jake McIntyre, an Irish veteran, young guns and so on.
“The sort of buy-in you get from players is all about what you put in at the start of the year,” Kahui said.
“We’re worked really hard from October.
“My biggest enjoyment is not so much me playing well but seeing the club going well and players around me going well like a Kane Koteka making big tackles for turnovers.
“All the foreign players who’ve come in like Rob Kearney, from Ireland, and Tomas and the Argentinian boys have bought into this team.
“The Brumbies and the Reds have been together forever. We’ve been together for a couple of months but there has been huge buy-in.
“I love this team. It’s great to be part of a team that can do something special after coming back from Japan last year and not winning a game at all.
“It’s been a really successful season, more because of where we are heading rather than where we are. The club is in a really good spot.”
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Those bigger picture things are fine but it is the 80 minutes in Canberra that count for everything on Saturday night.
Losing suspended centre Tevita Kuridrani makes it tougher and the March visit to GIO Stadium wasn’t exactly rousing when down 28-0 before half-time.
“Last time in Canberra, we didn’t show up at 28-0 down. I've seen a team develop from the start of the season when we were a bit clunky and didn’t move the ball much,” Kahui said.
“We know the Brumbies are a world class rugby team.
“To win, we have to be really disciplined and smart in how we play and where we play.
“In these past three games, I think we’ve shown plenty of resilience...we hung tough and got the job done against the Rebels and Waratahs when they probably weren’t our greatest performances.
“Against the Reds, it was a better performance with 14 men for a lot of the game. We showed we are really committed to each other to stay in it.
“Winning helps everything, right?. It certainly helps with connections and chemistry, especially the way we’ve won.”
As much as anything, knowing they can win from tight corners will feed huge belief if this qualifying final comes down to a tense final 20 minutes.
It’s do or die for both the Brumbies and Western Force this Saturday night in Canberra. Catch all the finals action ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport as well as simulcast live on 9Gem, click here to purchase tickets.
