Force Defeat Chiefs After Siren!

[Darren]

A Matt Giteau penalty in the 81st minute has given the Emirates Western Force a 22-21 win over the Chiefs in front of 21,549 fans at Subiaco Oval tonight.

In yet another thrilling finale in Perth, Giteau calmly slotted the kick from the apex of the 22m and 15m lines to give the home side a deserved victory.

The Emirates Western Force outplayed the Chiefs in the first half, with a try scored by number eight, Matt Hodgson in just the third minute giving the side a 7-0 lead after a successful conversion from Matt Giteau.

Stephen Donald slotted a penalty goal six minutes later, but that was the only score from the away team for the half.

A try to Drew Mitchell, converted by Giteau, saw the home side take a 14-3 lead into the half time break.

The second half scoring was opened by the Chiefs’ Lelia Masaga in the 42nd minute to cut the margin to 14-8.

A try to Emirates Western Force scrumhalf James Stannard in the 62nd minute was answered just three minutes later by a try to Donald, who converted to cut the gap to 19-15.

A penalty goal to Donald made it 19-18 with 10 minutes to go, and when Callum Bruce slotted a field goal in the 76th minute it looked like the Chiefs would pinch an unlikely win.

But after a try to Cameron Shepherd was disallowed by the TMO, Giteau stepped up with his last second heroics to seal the four competition points for the under strength home side.

Drew Mitchell was named Man of the Match, while Nathan Sharpe, Scott Fava and Ryan Cross were in good form.

Youngsters James O’Connor, Kieran Longbottom and Dane Haylett-Petty acquitted themselves well also.

3rd Minute: Try to the Emirates Western Force scored by Matt Hodgson. Successful conversion to Matt Giteau. Emirates Western Force lead 7-0
9th Minute: Successful penalty goal to Chiefs scored by Stephen Donald.
10th Minute: Emirates Western Force - Kieran Longbottom replaces Pek Cowan-injury
11th Minute: Try to Emirates Western Force scored by Drew Mitchell. Successful conversion to Giteau. Emirates Western Force lead 14-3
HALF TIME SCORE: Emirates Western Force 14 Chiefs 3
42nd Minute: Try to the Chiefs scored by Lelia Masaga. Unsuccessful conversion to Donald. Emirates Western Force lead 14-8.
62nd Minute: Try to Emirates Western Force scored by James Stannard. Unsuccessful conversion to Giteau. Emirates Western Force lead 19-8.
64th Minutes: Emirates Western Force - Sitaleki Timani replaces David Pusey
65th Minute: Try to Chiefs scored by Donald. Successful conversion to Donald. Emirates Western Force lead 19-15.
67th Minute: Emirates Western Force - Richard Brown replaces Matt Hodgson.
70th Minute: Penalty Goal to Chiefs kicked by Donald. Emirates Western Force lead 19-18.
71st Minute: Emirates Western Force - Luke Holmes replaces Tai McIssac.
74th Minute: Emirates Western Force - Scott Daruda replaces O’Connor, Dane Haylett-Petty replaces Nick Cummins, Chris O’Young replaces James Stannard and Tai McIsaac replaces Troy Takiari.
76th Minute: Drop goal to Chiefs scored by Dwayne Sweeney. Chiefs lead 21-19.
81st Minute: Penalty goal to the Emirates Western Force kicked by Giteau. Emirates Western Force lead 22-21.
FULL TIME: Emirates Western Force 22 Chiefs 21

Emirates Western Force 22 (Hodgson, Mitchell, Stannard tries. Giteau 2 cons, 1 pen)
Chiefs 21 (Masaga, Donald tries. Donald 1 con, 2 pens, Bruce 1 d/g)

[slomo]

happy days....

[force addict]

what a lovely BEAUTIFUL game it was. so heart wrenching though. hope cummins and pek's injuries don't last long

[KenyaQuin]

Force win Perth thriller
Saturday 03rd May 2008 Planetrugby.

Western Force fly-half Matt Giteau kicked a penalty in extra-time to snatch victory from the Chiefs in spectacular 22-21 Super 14 victory for the Perth-based franchise at Subiaco Stadium on Saturday.

What a game, what a finish!

Without a doubt, the last twenty minutes of this match will go down as one of the all-time greats as far as close finishes go.

Such drama, such tension, such stupidity - this Round Twelve Super 14 extravaganza had it all. Too true..

The Force led 14-3 at the break and after being 19-8 up with seventeen minutes to play, the home side looked to have the game in the bag. The high fives all round from the men in blue looked as if they had already won, but the hosts' early celebrations were cut horribly short as Chiefs hit back.

The visitors roared back into contention thanks to ten unanswered points from Chiefs' pivot Stephen Donald who contributed a try, conversion and penalty to bring his team within one point of the hosts.

A drop-goal from centre Callum Bruce with three minutes left on the clock gave the Chiefs a 21-19 lead but, in a frenetic finish to the match, the Force stole the win when Giteau nailed a penalty from just inside his 22m.

The Force's fifth triumph of the season snaps the Chiefs' five-game winning streak and threatens to derail the New Zealand-franchise's top four aspirations.

Having failed to score a try in their last two previous outings, the Force made the perfect start to the match after Matt Hodgson charged down a Jamie Nutbrown box-kick for an opening try in the corner.

Giteau added the tricky touchline conversion and the home side were 7-0 in front after just five minutes played.

Donald - who had a woeful day with the boot - started off fine enough after hitting back with a penalty kick three minutes later after the Force were caught offside.

In an energetic start to the game, the Force were over for try number two thanks to Drew Mitchell after the Wallaby winger showed tremendous upper-body strength to crash past three Chiefs' defenders in his run to the line.

Giteau had the same success with his second conversion after slotting the ball over with confidence from the exact same spot he bagged his first goal from.

At 14-3 down the Chiefs needed a steadying influence but Donald failed to provide it, missing two simple penalties, including one from just 15 metres out and directly in front to let the Force off the hook.

The visitors faced an 11-point deficit at the break but had their first try of the night two minutes after the restart when a slicing run from Sitivini Sivivatu released Lelia Masaga on the wing.

A desperate tackle from Mitchell proved fruitless as Masaga crossed over for the points.

Donald's kicking yips continued and it proved to be contagious, with Giteau missing two gettable penalties up the other end as the teams entered the final quarter with the Force leading 14-8.

A mesmerising run from rookie James O'Connor set up Force scrum-half James Stannard in for a 62nd-minute try but the Chiefs hit back against a napping Force defence three minutes later, with Donald's try and conversion closing the gap to 19-15 with 15 minutes to play

The Chiefs closed to within one point courtesy of another Donald penalty before Bruce put the visitors in front with a coolly-taken drop-goal from 20 metres out.

But the visitors' lead was short-lived.

Right when the Chiefs needed to regain their composure and close the match out, they went back to the headless chicken mode with which they'd played much of the match, turned ball over, and over, and invited the Force to make one last attack as the match concluded.

This time the Force managed to apply the lethal blow. Or at least they did in the end.

With a penalty advantage for offside, the Force looked to have scored wide on the left through full-back Cameron Shepherd, but a visit to the TMO confirmed he'd knocked on slightly in the try-scoring movement.

That left Matt Giteau to step up and coolly slot the match-winning penalty that may well have ended the Chiefs' semi-final charge in their tracks.

The Chiefs took a losing bonus point from the match to take them on to 33 points and fourth on the table for the time being, but they will know they should have solidified their position by at least another three points.

And that those spurned extras could yet come back to haunt them.

[Thequeerone]

Another heart stopping performance - we had them in the frist half - again we made it hard for ourselves but made it in injury time.

Fantastic Stuff.

PS wouldn't like to be Stannard analysing the decisions he made in the second half.

[KenyaQuin]

PS wouldn't like to be Stannard analysing the decisions he made in the second half.

Right you are TQ1. Afew passes to isolated players..a wayward kick straight into a defender's arms (I think it was him) and quite a few low balls to first receiver. Having said that, he did pretty good, had the defense thinking and watching him, attacked the ball a number of times, defended relatively well. A 6 bordering on 7 out of 10 in my books.

[force addict]

he got a try!

[laura]

Dont care about the errors this week. We won, I cried & laughed & gasped & cheered & screamed! What a brilliant sport to evoke so many emotions and what a great game.

Love your work boys, nothing but praise for sticking it out the full 81 minutes! Regardless of the results, would have been stoked at the improvement on last game.

[KenyaQuin]

he got a try!

Can't take that away from him. Not being overly critical, simply looking at how we can improve for the next game..

PS. Highlights on Foxsports at Video - FOX SPORTS

[force addict]

yeah that's fine that video doesnt work on my computer. not supposing its on youtube??????

[robyn <3]

i just feel so sorry for the poor people around me! they are probably all deaf now.... i had some chiefs supporter infront of me mocking everyone everytime anything went wrong... boy by the end of the night he was quiet...

[pieter blackie]

PS wouldn't like to be Stannard analysing the decisions he made in the second half.

he got a try!

Can't take that away from him. Not being overly critical, simply looking at how we can improve for the next game..

I think that Stannard had one of his best games so far for the I don't think O Young could have done any better!!

However, I think we seriously need to get a proper halfback so we can have a organised forward pack at the rucks and malls and that we can deliver good quality ball to our backs.

[force addict]

nah i know Chris O'Y is more 'experienced' but stannard really did have a good game despite his 'bad decisions'

[force addict]

great image of the boys after their win

why doesn't it work?

[blueandblack]

great image of the boys after their win

why doesn't it work?

force_addict: I used the direct link to the picture.