Pek clocks up the ton with Force

Western Force foundation member, prop Pek Cowan, will become just the second player to make a century of appearances for the club in Friday night’s Super Rugby clash with the Chiefs at Waikato Stadium.

The Wallabies loosehead is excited about emulating captain Matt Hodgson, the only Force player to achieve the milestone, but is more focused on what shapes as a daunting assignment.

Scrums have been surrounded by the vagaries of referee interpretations this season and the Force have suffered as much as most.

They were hit by a penalty try in the early-season loss to the Queensland Reds and also paid the price against the Stormers last Saturday night, their eighth consecutive defeat.

Cowan said the front rows had to take the referee out of the equation.

“Different refs have different interpretations of the rules,” Cowan said. “If we get the mental application right from the start we take the ref out of the equation straight away.

“Sometimes we want the refs to make a call early and sometimes you think he might hold off a bit in terms of a penalty try. That’s up to them, we control what we can.”

The second-placed Chiefs have a much-improved pack and overshadowed the Crusaders forwards in last Friday night’s 26-9 win in Christchurch.

“They are a very good set-piece team. They’ve got a big front row, a very big forward pack and technically they are a pretty tight scrum,” Cowan said.

Cowan made his debut from the bench against the Waratahs in 2006.

“From that day I vowed that I wanted to play many more and I’m just thankful that I’ve had the opportunity,” he said.

“To rack up 100 games for the same club is very humbling. It’s been a pretty long journey. I’ve seen a lot of ups and a lot of downs.”