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The Western Force held on to beat Highlanders 31-29 in Dunedin on Saturday, claiming a sixth successive victory over the New Zealand outfit despite being reduced to 13 men for the final eight minutes of the Vodacom Super Rugby clash.
Hooker Nathan Charles, flyhalf Sias Ebersohn, number eight Ben McCalman and centre Junior Rasolea had all scored tries to give the Perth-based Force a bonus point and a 31-16 lead with 23 minutes remaining.
They were forced to claim back-to-back victories for the first time in almost three years the hard way, though, when replacement lock Adam Coleman and McCalman were both shown yellow cards in the 72nd minute.
With time running out, Highlanders replacement back Hayden Parker scurried over the line to narrow the deficit to two points but his attempt to tie up the scores with the conversion failed when the ball came back off the crossbar.
Scorers:
Highlanders - Tries: Shaun Treeby, Malakai Fekitoa, Hayden Parker; Conversions: Lima Sopoaga; Penalties: Sopoaga (4)
Force - Tries: Nathan Charles, Sias Ebersohn, Ben McCalman, Junior Rasolea; Conversions: Ebersohn (4); Penalties: Ebersohn
http://www.supersport.com/rugby/article.aspx?Id=2358694
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
Sheer guts from the Force, who played the last 10 minutes of the game with 13 men, overcame the Highlanders 31-29.
The Highlanders scored late through replacement flyhalf Hayden Parker, but he was forced wide which made his conversion attempt harder, and he was unable to land it to achieve the draw.
But it was a game effort from the Force who had to go back three years to the last time they had won consecutive games.
Replacement loose forward Adam Coleman was sin-binned and then No.8 Ben McCalman, who had been a key contributor, was also sin-binned for a tip tackle.
From the five-metre scrum the Highlanders muffed their chance to score immediately and that ate up time as the Force cleared downfield. Again the Highlanders came back but they were unable to ground the ball in a maul over the line, and more time was wasted.
A five-metre scrum was forced, and collapsed by the Force, but finally the chance came and Parker crossed wide out.
However, the game had been lost earlier by the Highlanders whose mistakes had been punished by the Force in emphatic fashion.
Looking to replicate their electric start from their last outing against the Rebels, the Force showed good patience from the outset and they crossed for the opening try from a rolling maul which saw hooker Nathan Charles touch down.
The Highlanders made an initial response with two penalty goals to Lima Sopoaga but no sooner was there a restart after his second than the Force kicked the ball dead.
From the resulting scrum halfback Alby Mathewson was ruled offside and Sopoaga promptly goaled from 50m to claim the lead in the 18th minute.
Ebersohn compensated for the error by picking off an attempted long pass by home hooker Liam Coltman to race in from 40m out to add the conversion to lead 14-9.
Working their way back into the Force 22m area, the Highlanders produced a set piece play from a scrum with No.8 Nasi Manu feeding to halfback Aaron Smith standing off. Smith fired a kick through for Shaun Treeby to win the ball for the try.
However, just on half time, some hard yards were gained by wing Luke Morahan who took play to within 10m of the Highlanders' line and from the ruck, McCalman shook off a tackle attempt to go in under the posts.
Ebersohn's conversion gave the Force a 21-16 lead at half time. He added a penalty goal to start the second half and as desperation grew for the Highlanders they were forced into error.
In the 55th minute, the Highlanders looked to run the ball through midfield, but a pass from Treeby to centre Malakai Fekitoa saw the catcher receive the ball and defender Nick Cummins at the same instant. The ball dropped free and in covering Sopoaga had his kick charged by centre Junior Rasolea and he held the ball to outpace the defence on his run to score in the corner.
The Highlanders response was immediate and they had reward for keeping ball in hand after strong runs by prop Kane Hames, Sopoaga and Fekitoa, who featured twice, the second time to score.
http://www.sanzarrugby.com/superrugb...us-point-wins/
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
Can someone please tell me when we have had 2 4 try wins in one season lots of under 7 point bonus points... I dont remember us doing this but I could be wrong and definatly not in a 2 week period
Ollie Hoskins, Byrnard Stander, Zac Holmes and Marcel Brache didn't get a run? (according to SMH http://www.smh.com.au/match-centre/r...h-6030026.html) Need to confirm for POTY voting
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
Looking at these stats I think we still have a lot to look at and to get a win from this shows they are playing with guts
Possession
Highlanders 60%
60% 40%
Force 40%
Rucks/mauls
Highlanders 85
63% 37%
Force 51
Line breaks
Highlanders 5
56% 44%
Force 4
Offloads
Highlanders 12
86% 14%
Force 2
Scrum wins
Highlanders
50% 50%
Force
Scrums won against head
Highlanders
50% 50%
Force
Lineout wins
Highlanders 10
59% 41%
Force 7
Lineouts won against throw
Highlanders 2
50% 50%
Force 2
Runs
Highlanders 111
63% 37%
Force 66
Run metres
Highlanders 393m
52% 48%
Force 363m
Kicks
Highlanders 20
45% 55%
Force 24
Kick metres
Highlanders 0m
50% 50%
Force 0m
Tackles made
Highlanders 79
44% 56%
Force 102
Tackles missed
Highlanders 6
19% 81%
Force 26
Turnovers
Highlanders 20
51% 49%
Force 19
Penalties conceded
Highlanders 5
28% 72%
Force 13
All info from SMH
http://www.smh.com.au/match-centre/r...h-6030026.html
Last edited by Tonkar; 15-03-14 at 18:01.
Missed tackles 6 to 26! God is that right? I thought the Highlanders were supposed to be shite at tackling? What does that say bout the Force, usually the tackle rate is good.
According to The West Australian that is the Highlanders sixth straight loss against the Force
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/spo...wo-in-sin-bin/
Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
When you play 8 minutes with 13 men there will be some missed takes, the scramble was AMAZING in that last 8 minutes.
The only thing that this win can be attributed to is sheer, unadulterated, bleed-for-your-brother team spirit.
We held complete scrum dominance in the first 10 minutes, but received all the scrum penalties, we were effective at the breakdown, but every time we pressured the ball it was from the side or off our feet, the Higlanders OTOH were as pure as the driven snow.
Good, hard, gutsy rugby, finally a game where we played more minutes of rugby than minutes of crap, not all of it was pretty, but we did what needed to be done.
Now to the Bogans (eeek)
C'mon the![]()
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When you play 8 minutes with 13 men there will be some missed takes, the scramble was AMAZING in that last 8 minutes.
The only thing that this win can be attributed to is sheer, unadulterated, bleed-for-your-brother team spirit.
We held complete scrum dominance in the first 10 minutes, but received all the scrum penalties, we were effective at the breakdown, but every time we pressured the ball it was from the side or off our feet, the Higlanders OTOH were as pure as the driven snow.
Good, hard, gutsy rugby, finally a game where we played more minutes of rugby than minutes of crap, not all of it was pretty, but we did what needed to be done.
Now to the Bogans (eeek)
C'mon the![]()
![]()
We had missed 12 or 16 at half time though.
Can't remember which
We had missed 12 or 16 at half time though.
Can't remember which