Force Denied Win in Wellington

[Darren]

The Emirates Western Force has fallen six points short of their first win in Wellington, going down to the Hurricanes, 22-16, tonight.

The Force pulled their way back from a 15-3 half-time deficit, controlling the ball for long periods of the match and getting within striking distance at the final whistle, before having to settle for a consolation bonus point for their efforts.

Coincidentally, all the Force points came from the former Hurricanes pairing of Alby Mathewson and Jayden Hayward.

Emirates Western Force flyhalf Sam Norton-Knight said the result was disappointing after strong lead-up to the match.

“It felt good out there, our preparation all week was fantastic,” he said. “At times we were able to execute, it was just little areas that let us down unfortunately.

“Our set piece was awesome tonight. The lineout was a massive step up from last week and Toby [Lynn] has worked really hard with Stilesy there and we were really happy with the ball they were able to deliver.

“Using tennis terminology, you haven’t broken serve until you’ve held; and you haven’t put points on the board until you’ve exited properly and put pressure back on them, and that’s what we were unable to do tonight. It’s a little bit frustrating but you play against a team like the Hurricanes and they can hurt you from positions that other teams can’t and that’s what they did tonight.”

The Emirates Western Force dominated the early exchanges with the Western Australians controlling possession and playing inside Hurricanes territory.

However, a string of penalties allowed the Hurricanes to blow downfield, putting fullback Beauden Barrett in goal-kicking range for the first penalty of the match after 11 minutes.

The home side backed up with their first five-pointer eight minutes later when front-rower Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen spun and then rolled his way over the try line with Barrett adding the extras for a 10-0 lead.

A quick tap from Mathewson almost netted the Force’s first try, when the crafty scrumhalf delivered a neat inside ball to prop Tetera Faulkner to charge through to the line. However, television match official Glenn Newman judged that the rampant tighthead had been halted just short of the line.

The near call sparked the Wellington machine and from a quick lineout with winger Alapati Leiua slicing through the defensive line to put Brad Shields in for the final try of the half and a 15-3 advantage.

The Force controlled the run of play early in the second term and was rewarded with another Hayward penalty goal, only to have the three points nullified by a Tisi Pusi try a minute later.

Trailing 22-6, the Force controlled the running for the final 20 minutes, kick-started by an outstanding individual Mathewson try. Receiving the ball off the top of another well-performing lineout, the half carved through the set piece defence and danced around the converging defence to touch down beneath the posts.

Hayward’s conversion and later penalty goal – stemming from a yellow card to replacement James Broadhurst – drew the Perth-based side to within six.

However, tasked with moving the ball from their own score line on fulltime, the Force got to within 30 metres of their destination before the Canes forced the turnover to seal the home win.

The Emirates Western Force will now head to Canberra to face the Brumbies at Canberra Stadium on Saturday, 27 April.

2013 Super Rugby – Week 10
Friday, 19 April 2013 at Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 7.35pm (local)/3.35pm (local)

Hurricanes 22 (Tuis Pisi, Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen, Brad Shields tries; Beauden Barrett 2/3 conversions, 1/3 penalties) defeated Emirates Western Force 16 (Alby Mathewson try; Jayden Hayward 1/1 conversions, 3/4 penalties)
Emirates Western Force
1. Pek Cowan, 2. Heath Tessmann, 3. Tetera Faulkner, 4. Toby Lynn, 5. Sam Wykes, 6. Angus Cottrell, 7. Matt Hodgson (c), 8. Richard Brown, 9. Alby Mathewson, 10. Sam Norton-Knight, 11. Ed Stubbs, 12. Junior Rasolea, 13. Winston Stanley, 14. Patrick Dellit, 15. Jayden Hayward. Res: 16. James Hilterbrand, 17. Kieran Longbottom, 18. Rory Walton, 19. Chris Alcock, 20. Mick Snowden, 21. Sias Ebersohn, 22. Alfie Mafi
Coach: Michael Foley
Hurricanes
1. Ben Franks, 2. Motu Matu’u, 3. Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen, 4. Jeremy Thrush, 5. Mark Reddish, 6. Brad Shields, 7. Jack Lam, 8. Fafili Levave, 9. Chris Smylie, 10. Tusi Pisi, 11. Julian Savea, 12. Tim Bateman, 13. Conrad Smith (c), 14. Alapati Leiua, 15. Beauden Barrett. Res: 16. Ash Dixon, 17. Reggie Goodes, 18. James Broadhurst, 19. Karl Lowe, 20. TJ Perenara, 21. Reynold Lee-Lo, 22. Andre Taylor.
Coach: Mark Hammett
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Referee: Nick Briant
By the clock

Min Details Score
4 Jayden Hayward Missed PG 0-0
11 Beauden Barrett Penalty Goal 3-0
20 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen Try 8-0
21 Beauden Barrett Conversion 10-0
27 Jayden Hayward Penalty Goal 10-3
29 Brad Shields Try 15-3
31 Beauden Barrett Missed Con 15-3
35 Beauden Barrett Missed PG 15-3
48 Jayden Hayward Penalty Goal 15-6
49 Tusi Pisi Try 20-6
50 Beauden Barrett Conversion 22-6
58 Alby Mathewson Try 22-11
59 Jayden Hayward Conversion 22-13
64 Beauden Barrett Missed PG 22-13
72 James Broadhurst Sin Bin 22-13
73 Jayden Hayward Penalty Goal 22-16

[Tazzmania]

Under the circumstances, taking into account the epic win last week, the tough flight to NZ the short turnaround time, the powerful Hurricanes coming off a loss, and the fact that bookies had us as the highest price outsiders of any teams this week, it was another encouraging performance.

This team is getting better and playing for each other, if only we had one X factor player we would have won, unlike other teams we have to grind our way all night, yet other teams have the the x factor and can chnage the game in the blink of an eye whereas we have to grind and grind

[SinBin]

I can't recall our line out working as we'll since Sharpie days - has he been coaching them? Interesting to hear comments about our pre-match practice routine - Tessman standing on the field and throwing to our forwards in the stand.

[palitu]

here are my ramblings from the match:

Backline was lost, at times we had three players in the tram lines, no good for creating overlaps. they got lost after a couple of phases and really stopped momentum. All the backs do a little junk prior to running into the defence, sometimes, just hit it up hard and fast, gives your team quick ball! Junior, whilst getting over the advantage line, could have hit some up a little harder, use that big body! Also, put him at 13, not 12.

Shnoz, I don't mind a couple of chips behind the opposition team, to put them on a line out in our 22, BUT! it needs to have runners onto it providing pressure, and ideally getting the ball. Too many chips to gain nothing. otherwise, he had an ok game, distributing the ball and kicking for field position. Can't fault his defence either.

back 3, Jayden Hayward was found out of position on a few occasions, which allowed for at least one try (the lock crashing over in the corner was one). but need him in there for the kicking. Why not to have him in the team in his typical position? Though i think foley really wants stanley at 13! As a result of our new 9-10-12-13, the back three never got the ball in space, which means we never got to unleash and speedsters... Ed Stubbs needs a new hair cut.... just putting it out there.

Alby played well, though i would like to see him take it to the line every now and then! Good to see him having a bit of a run on peoples back, but he needs to be a bit careful, as he has given some silly penalties away.

FORWARDS:
Second row needs some enforcing. there is no penetration/getting over the adv line on runs. They just aren't muscling up. Much better in the line outs, perhaps start Rory over sam, or phoenix. I think Lynn is better than wakes at the moment, but they are both too soft.

Don't go into a maul after every line out! it becomes predictable! get a hard runner from the back to hit it up one out from the line. This gets the forwards running backwards and we can run a back line move off of it.

Tessman has played GREAT! cannot really fault any of his game

Scrum was better than last week, but still needs a bit of tightening up. Stronger enginee room would help.

UInfortunately i think that Alcock should be starting and Hodgson has to come off the bench. The back row is playing their hearts out, but then, that has never been our problem.

The REf... some interesting calls/non-calls.

The one that sticks out the most is when ably took the quick tap off of a penalty and was talked 2 meters aways. To me that is a professional foul, inside the red zone where we have a chance to score. Instant yellow. As it was we were held just short of the line because we where held up. I am still really pissed about this (non) call.

thanks for listening folks!

[joblot]

here are my ramblings from the match:

Backline was lost, at times we had three players in the tram lines, no good for creating overlaps. they got lost after a couple of phases and really stopped momentum. All the backs do a little junk prior to running into the defence, sometimes, just hit it up hard and fast, gives your team quick ball! Junior, whilst getting over the advantage line, could have hit some up a little harder, use that big body! Also, put him at 13, not 12.

Shnoz, I don't mind a couple of chips behind the opposition team, to put them on a line out in our 22, BUT! it needs to have runners onto it providing pressure, and ideally getting the ball. Too many chips to gain nothing. otherwise, he had an ok game, distributing the ball and kicking for field position. Can't fault his defence either.

back 3, Jayden Hayward was found out of position on a few occasions, which allowed for at least one try (the lock crashing over in the corner was one). but need him in there for the kicking. Why not to have him in the team in his typical position? Though i think foley really wants stanley at 13! As a result of our new 9-10-12-13, the back three never got the ball in space, which means we never got to unleash and speedsters... Ed Stubbs needs a new hair cut.... just putting it out there.

Alby played well, though i would like to see him take it to the line every now and then! Good to see him having a bit of a run on peoples back, but he needs to be a bit careful, as he has given some silly penalties away.

FORWARDS:
Second row needs some enforcing. there is no penetration/getting over the adv line on runs. They just aren't muscling up. Much better in the line outs, perhaps start Rory over sam, or phoenix. I think Lynn is better than wakes at the moment, but they are both too soft.

Don't go into a maul after every line out! it becomes predictable! get a hard runner from the back to hit it up one out from the line. This gets the forwards running backwards and we can run a back line move off of it.

Tessman has played GREAT! cannot really fault any of his game

Scrum was better than last week, but still needs a bit of tightening up. Stronger enginee room would help.

UInfortunately i think that Alcock should be starting and Hodgson has to come off the bench. The back row is playing their hearts out, but then, that has never been our problem.

The REf... some interesting calls/non-calls.

The one that sticks out the most is when ably took the quick tap off of a penalty and was talked 2 meters aways. To me that is a professional foul, inside the red zone where we have a chance to score. Instant yellow. As it was we were held just short of the line because we where held up. I am still really pissed about this (non) call.

thanks for listening folks!

That foul was pretty close to penalty try material and not even a yellow card. Poor referree performance.

[palitu]

That foul was pretty close to penalty try material and not even a yellow card. Poor referree performance.

yeah, i never thought of penalty try. i guess we got so close to the try line with the penalty, that if he wasn't stopped, it would have been a long way over the try line.

That should have been a pivotal call. and at least set a bit of a warning to the Canes.

[Sheikh]

The ref struck me as, shall we say, inconsistent in his calling. For instance, we knocked the ball on, the Canes kicked the ball away, not finding touch, and the ref called it back to a scrum citing no advantage to the Canes from the knock-on. 5 minutes later the Canes knock the ball on, we kick the ball out on the full, and the ref gives the Canes the line-out rather than saying no advantage to the Force.
Typical, rookie ref for a Force game; why do we need a good quality ref, everyone knows the Force will lose? But when we had Kaplan reffing an even match we beat the Crusaders!

[Elf1]

Sheikh the experience J Kaplan showed last week was invaluable to us a side, the rookie indecisions were not there and he even overrode the Asssistand Refs calls,something we dont see a lot of.

[Stone Cold]

I am getting very annoyed with our guys constantly trying to offload in tackles. I lost count of the number of knock-ons that occured due to those 50/50 passes when getting tackled. How about we take a few more tackles, play the ball and trust the ruck outcome a bit more?

Incidentally I was extremely impressed with Tessman - he had a great game.

My ref moment was that scrum when we had pushed them completely over after one of their props had his hand on the ground and both of their flankers had left the scrum. For mine that was three penalties but not one was called. Suffice to say the tv got quite the yelling at.

[chibi]

At the moment we really just strangle opponents and keep the scoreboard ticking over in 3's. It's effective, but it only takes a defensive lapse and we're buggered. If we had that ability to break open a team and score, then we could keep parity.

I'd like to see them drive the ball-carrier more. I thought there was a few times when we had numbers but no space, it would be good if the team could instinctively call "drive" or "wedge" (something like that) in open play and get a rumble going, especially if we're stuck going side-to-side with the weight of possession but no forward gain.

I hope he shifts Rasolea out to 13 again. I don't have a problem with Stanley but sometimes he gets a bit like Matt Toomua, he attacks the line when he should shift it. I wonder whether straightening is so ingrained in his mindset that the only place for him would be wing? With our outside back stocks the way they are, that would mean the bench for him wouldn't it?

[UNCLE BOOG]

Tessman was brilliant, Alby seemed a bit rattled, and seems a little slower off the ruck that previously... but its always good to see him barrel through the gaps.