{"id":2118,"date":"2026-04-06T07:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T02:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/zac-lomaxs-super-rugby-pacific-debut-delayed-as-force-defeat-reds-42-19-in-brisbane\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T07:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T02:07:09","slug":"zac-lomaxs-super-rugby-pacific-debut-delayed-as-force-defeat-reds-42-19-in-brisbane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/zac-lomaxs-super-rugby-pacific-debut-delayed-as-force-defeat-reds-42-19-in-brisbane\/","title":{"rendered":"Zac Lomax&#8217;s Super Rugby Pacific debut delayed as Force defeat Reds 42-19 in Brisbane"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au\/4657d8412867b88a17799d3faf20412f?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&amp;cropH=3333&amp;cropW=1875&amp;xPos=1282&amp;yPos=0&amp;width=862&amp;height=1533\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Zac Lomax&#8217;s latest setback has paved the way for a &#8220;hell of an introduction&#8221; in Fiji next weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The ex-NSW State of Origin representative was set to make his professional rugby debut for the Western Force against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Lomax had been named on the reserves bench, but the Force announced an hour before kick-off he was ruled out because of hamstring tightness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Force went on to upset the Reds with a 42-19 bonus-point win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Sorry about that,&#8221; Force coach Simon Cron said of the Lomax anti-climax.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;If we put him away down an edge, he&#8217;s going to sprint and it&#8217;s too high of a risk [so] I pulled him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ContentAlignment_marginBottom__4H_6E ContentAlignment_overflowAuto__c1_IL ContentAlignment_floatRight__nfR_t RelatedCard_relatedCard__4Im5s interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU interactive_hoverContext__LDUDX interactive_defaults__AKxUU\" data-component=\"RelatedCard\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/article\/106532378\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-03-09\/nrl-star-zac-lomax-defects-to-super-rugby\/106431920\" data-component=\"FullBleedLink\" class=\"RelatedCard_link__rsgR9 FullBleedLink_root__lTw_U interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU FullBleedLink_showVisited__g3Xvz\"><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_heading__S_nm2 Typography_sizeMobile18__eJCIB Typography_lineHeightMobile24__crkfh Typography_bold__FqafP Typography_serif__qU2V5 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Lomax to join Western Force after NRL saga<\/h3>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_synopsis__cFwMW Typography_sizeMobile14__u7TGe Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Zac Lomax signs a deal with Western Force and Rugby Australia in a major blow to the NRL.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Cron may have no choice but to select Lomax in his starting XV for the Force&#8217;s next match against Fijian Drua in Lautoka on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Force lost both starting wingers Dylan Pietsch (foot) and Darby Lancaster (ankle) to injury against the Reds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It&#8217;s still in play,&#8221; Cron said of Lomax&#8217;s potential debut in Fiji.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It&#8217;d be a hell of an introduction for him. The Drua \u2026 big, powerful, strong. So is he, but it&#8217;d be a baptism.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Lomax walked away from his lucrative Parramatta Eels NRL contract with the intention of joining R360, only for the rebel league to delay its first season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\"><a class=\"Link_link__kR0xA Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-03-03\/zac-lomax-nrl-saga-ends-with-out-of-court-settlement\/106409138\" data-component=\"Link\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/article\/106409138\">His subsequent bid to join the Melbourne Storm was blocked<\/a> before he signed with Rugby Australia on a two-year deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\"><strong>AAP<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-04-05\/zac-lomax-western-force-super-rugby-pacific\/106532368\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zac Lomax&#8217;s latest setback has paved the way for a &#8220;hell of an introduction&#8221; in Fiji next weekend. The ex-NSW State of Origin representative was set to make his professional rugby debut for the Western Force against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Saturday night. Lomax had been named on the reserves bench, but the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}