The Western Force want to return to South Africa in future to continue competing in the Toyota Challenge.

The Perth-based Super Rugby franchise was in Bloemfontein for close to two weeks for the first two legs of the competition against the Cheetahs.

In the first game the Cheetahs beat the Force 31-27, while on the weekend they backed it up with a 27-12 victory after fighting back from 12-0 down after 13 minutes.

There was an indication last week that there are talks in place to ensure that the Cheetahs and Force could face each other annually for the next decade.

The Force coach, Simon Cron, told OFM Sport that they see a lot of value in playing against the Cheetahs.

“I think it's very important that we create a third tier competition for us at the Force, and this is what this is about,” said Cron.

“This is a steppingstone for some of the club and younger players to be able to step-up so that they don't just go straight into Super Rugby.

“Like today (Saturday) there was club boys that got out onto the field to play, there was four or five academy guys and there a lot of younger boys, so it was a really good experience.

“If we don't have this steppingstone, it makes it really hard for them to transition and we don't want to make mistakes in the Super Rugby like we have here probably around a couple of big key moments.

“So, it's they experienced it now, they learnt from it and so when we play Super Rugby those things won't happen.”

The Force will host the Cheetahs in Perth on 29 September in the next game of the tournament. This match at the Lane Group Stadium kicks off at 13:00. On 7 October the last match will be contested at the Revo Fitness Stadium.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport