With his team's Super Rugby finals hopes all but gone, Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe says the coming weeks will be character testing.

The Force were never really in the contest as they slumped to a 31-3 home defeat to the Waratahs on Saturday night.

It was the Perth outfit's third consecutive loss and they've conceded 108 points in the process.

Although the Force did show some promise at the start of the season, Sharpe said the prospect of a finals berth was beyond consideration after five losses, a draw and a solitary win left them sitting last in the Australian conference.

The squad simply had to focus on turning their form around.

The Wallabies second-rower said in the coming weeks would be a true "test of character".

"There's only so many things you can say at the end of the day but the one thing is when you're faced with a challenge you want to see how guys react to that," said Sharpe.

"As much as these situations hurt like hell, the response that you get is a pretty good indication of the group of guys you've got."

The long-awaited debut of New Zealand import five-eighth Willie Ripia did not lend much impetus to the Force.

Ripia, who sustained a foot injury in the pre-season, had a relatively quiet game but coach Richard Graham said it was a positive to see him last the full 80 minutes.

Graham also said it was too early to say whether Wallabies star James O'Connor, who has played most of season at five eighth but moved to fullback against the Waratahs, would be brought back in closer to the ball.

"It's a little bit early," he said.

"But the one thing I'll say is that regardless of how many times he (Ripia) touched the ball, we probably didn't value possession for long enough periods of play to actually get anyone involved in the game."

Graham said the Force's crushing 51-16 defeat at the hands of the Stormers in the sixth round had been a "kick in the guts".

However, they had managed to turn that round the following week against the Rebels, to lose only by a solitary point.

"We've obviously taken a step back down ... we've got nine games to go and the important thing for us as a side is that we continue to believe in what we're doing and continue to grow."

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