{"id":446740,"date":"2026-01-30T05:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/446740\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T05:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:57:10","slug":"wallaby-darby-lancaster-out-to-win-over-force-fans-following-move-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/446740\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallaby Darby Lancaster out to win over Force fans following move west"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Western Force<\/a> fans couldn\u2019t help but dislike Darby Lancaster<\/a> last year, but the one-capped Wallabies flyer hopes it won\u2019t take long to win over the \u2018Sea of Blue\u2019.<\/p>\n

Lancaster was recruited to the Force for the upcoming Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season after the club lost star Wallabies winger Harry Potter<\/a> to the NSW Waratahs.<\/p>\n

Potter ranked second for clean breaks (20) in the competition last season and fourth for metres gained (780m), meaning Lancaster has some huge shoes to fill in 2026.<\/p>\n

Force fans are already well-versed on Lancaster\u2019s match-winning abilities after watching him score a spectacular Super Point try against them in Perth last year.<\/p>\n

With the Super Point period winding down, Lancaster made a sprint to the corner and somehow touched the ball down after being pushed while doing a diving somersault in the air.<\/p>\n

Force fans were adamant Lancaster didn\u2019t ground the ball properly, but the 90th-minute try was awarded on review and NSW walked away with a famous 22-17 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys have made fun of it a couple of times,\u201d Lancaster said with a laugh when asked about how his new Force teammates still feel about that try.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think too many people here think I scored the try. It doesn\u2019t matter. I\u2019m here now, so I\u2019m doing everything I can to make sure the Force are going to go well this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winning over his new teammates has been easy, but Lancaster now faces the challenge of winning over the fans just eight months after breaking their hearts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve got a bit of work to do to win it back,\u201d Lancaster said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I can hopefully do that through putting in effort week in, week out and doing everything I can to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lancaster is at his third Super Rugby club, having spent 2024 with the Melbourne Rebels<\/a> and 2025 at the Tahs.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old only has a one-year deal at the Force, but he is loving his time in Perth and would love to stay at the club on a longer-term deal.<\/p>\n

Lancaster has moved in with his high school friend Toby Alker, who is an Australian Rules player currently plying his trade with WAFL side East Fremantle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good. It gives me a bit of a change to rugby,\u201d Lancaster said of living with Alker.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can talk about his training. He\u2019ll come over and say he\u2019s done an 11km field session, and I\u2019ll go, \u2018Maybe I can stop complaining\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lancaster ran an 11-second flat 100m during his school days, and he played in the 2021-22 World Rugby Sevens Series after coming through the Australian Sevens pathway.<\/p>\n

His extreme pace has served him well in the 15-a-side game, with his hot form for the Rebels leading to a one-off Wallabies call-up later that year.<\/p>\n

Lancaster would love to add to that one cap, but for now he is focused on helping the Force become a powerhouse, starting with the season opener at home to the Brumbies<\/a> on February 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Force fans couldn\u2019t help but dislike Darby Lancaster last year, but the one-capped Wallabies flyer hopes it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-446740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}