Western Force topple mighty Chiefs at Subi

[laura]

Western Force topple mighty Chiefs at Subi
Nick Taylor
May 03, 2008 07:40pm

SO SIZE doesn't really matter.

It was one of the Force's little men, Matt Giteau, who slotted a sensational penalty after the siren for a 22-21 victory.

The Western Force little men stood tall in a display from their side that was well and truly written off in some quarters.

Instead, they produced resilience and played with heart and a flair like a side that really had nothing to lose and was prepared to gamble.

The Force had not scored a try for 29 days, but they scored three to give the Chiefs a bloody nose at Subiaco.

It would be unfair to class the Chiefs big men as nothing but destroyers but when 80kilos of 17-year-old faces a constant barrage from the likes of a 120kg, battle-hardened Sione Lauaki and his mates you would expect something to give.

But James O'Connor - at just 17 years and 303 days old - and his more senior partner Giteau showed what makes rugby so special: there is always room for the smaller man. And how wonderful it was to see

Players like Giteau condition and prepare themselves to face the physical demands of Super rugby, and prove that sometimes brain overcomes brawn. O'Connor is already a long way to learning that.

At times he looked, maybe not physically after all he is still a schoolboy, like a seasoned professional.

He was confident under the high ball, was prepared to take it into the ruck, to what his coach John Mitchell calls the dark places, and made one sparkling run that led to the Force third try. IMHO absolutley proved his value here.

Rugby is actually quite a simple game that usually revolves around a couple of issues: one of them the mismatch.

All teams look for the mismatch.

At Subiaco there was never any doubt the Chiefs were going to attack the 10 and 12 channels, test the little guys, where maestro Giteau and his young apprentice O'Connor were waiting.

But they showed why coach John Mitchell had faith in a daring experiment, linking the current and prospective Wallaby stars Giteau and O'Connor.

It was a bold bid to fast forward the club's future and the future looks rosy on this performance.

The Chief centre field attacks were not as effective as they would have wanted but that was due to the work of the Force backrow trio.

In a game of notable firsts O'Connor became the youngest ever Super 14 starter and Rockingham prop Kieran Longbottom became the first West Australian to make it from local juniors to Force ranks replacing Pek Cowan who came off after 10 minutes with a compound fracture of his left thumb that took three people to get back in .

Before last night the Force has led only twice at the break, winning one, but managed to turn four halftime deficits into wins.

At one point the Force was reduced to 13 players with two men down. Cummins was then carried off and Troy Takiari had a shoulder popped back in before trudging back to the scrum.

Captain Nathan Sharpe said: " Mate. What a game, unbelievable." Too right, sensational!!!

In the heat of the battle, he did not realise his side had been awarded the winning penalty and was disappointed the Shepherd "try" was disallowed.

"I had no idea we had the penalty advantage," he said.

"We have not been able to put a good score together all season. The first half was really good, some really good passages of play.

"In the second half (we) got a little sloppy and can't do that against the Chiefs. They are one of the best broken field teams in the competition.

"We knew we had to play for field position. We had to hold onto it. We know we are a very good attacking side."

He said fighting to the end, except for the Reds game, was a trademark of his side and he wanted to finish the season on a high.

Matt Hodgson, who last week was playing club rugby for Wanneroo charged down and caught his own kick to shock the Chiefs after four minutes for the first Force try. Matt Giteau converted.

The Chiefs hit back quickly with a penalty from Stephen Donald but Drew Mitchell who has lacked confidence in recent weeks showed great strength to drive over for the Force's second try in the same corner.

Giteau hit another long range conversion and the first half performance was summed up by a last ditch, try-saving Cameron Shepherd tackle on Richard Kahui.

A missed tackle and a hand off allowed Leila Masaga to go in for a try and the worst possible start to the second half for the Force

O'Connor with a dazzling run led to a ruck and then a first ever Force try for halfback James Stannard on the narrow side, unconverted.

But the Chiefs immediately hit back from Donald touching down under the posts. He converted his own try.

A Callum Bruce drop goal almost broke Force hearts with three minutes left and Shepherd was denied a try in his 50th game, ruled to have knocked on seconds before the siren.

In one of the Force pre-season `Save It For The Game' campaign advertisements a group of Kiwis sit at a bar handing out advice on how to play the game.

In the tongue-in-cheek ad they have a chalkboard with a sketch of large New Zealanders lining up against Force `wee guys'.

``This is our fellas...and this, is your fellas,'' one giggles.

Giggle on boys. Giteau had the last laugh. My word he did, and what timing!!!