Western Force coach Michael Foley has taken a swipe at Queensland counterpart Richard Graham, suggesting he should concern himself with the pressure his underperforming team is under rather than worry about the Perth-based side's Super Rugby finals ambitions.
The Force host the Reds at nib Stadium on Saturday with the home team needing to win to keep their chance of a first finals appearance alive while Queensland's season is already over, the Reds 12th overall and second last in the Australian conference.
Graham, a former Force coach, had pointed out that the Force weren't exactly known for handling pressure.
But Foley bit back on Friday.
"I guess Richard would understand pressure with the position his team's in at the moment," Foley said.
As for chasing a bonus point and potentially setting up a shootout with the Brumbies for a finals spot the following week, Foley wasn't getting ahead of himself.
"I don't know that we are necessarily thinking about that up front, we just have to win the game first and see what happens after that," Foley said.
"If you go into games talking about taking a bonus point out of it, sometimes you underestimate the opposition."
The Force welcome back the soon-to-be departed Nick Cummins with Ian Prior and Zack Holmes forming a new halves pairing to replace Alby Mathewson and Sias Ebersohn for the Reds clash.
Having seen his team bounce back from disappointing losses already this season Foley is confident last week's 40-14 mauling against the Blues will be forgotten.
"All you can do is try and identify what some of the issues are and then work on them," Foley said.
"One of the things about our guys this year is that we've had some bumps in the road whilst it's been a good season. But they've always responded really well."
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