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The Emirates Western Force was unable to provide inaugural captain Nathan Sharpe with a winning home farewell from nib Stadium tonight despite a spirited second-half comeback, eventually going down to the Brumbies 28-17.
Sharpe, playing in his 161st Super Rugby match and 91st for the West Australian province, led his side onto the field accompanied by his sons Cooper and Franklin, however his side was unable to provide a fairy tale finish to his FxPro Super Rugby career in Perth.
“One thing that was great was the support I received from everywhere around the world and I’m very, very grateful for that because it was really nice,” Sharpe said. “In the context of the game it’s disappointing because you want to win those games, and unfortunately it didn’t go that way for us and so it makes it a bit bittersweet.”
The first half was a one-sided affair with the Brumbies dominating possession and field position, and converting it into a 22-0 half time lead.
The visitors were on the scoreboard after just two minutes when winger Jesse Mogg sliced through to score, with Ben Alexander helping to extend the lead to 12 points when he crashed over nine minutes later.
The task for the Emirates Western Force was compounded when No.8 Matt Hodgson left the field midway through the first term with an ankle injury, before the Brumbies sealed a first-half four-try bonus point with tries to winger Henry Speight and Holmes.
With the game in danger of slipping away from the home side, the Emirates Western Force machine kicked into gear in the second half, running in three-tries-to-nil.
Winger and man-of-the-match Nick Cummins, who was a standout in the first term with his aggressive ball carries and a bone-jarring tackle on Brumby Pat McCabe, was rewarded three minutes after the break when he bumped off one defender to score in the corner.
Eight minutes later fullback Alfie Mafi sparked the home side again when he produced some elusive footwork in counter attack, before delivering a timely short pass to replacement back-rower Lachlan McCaffery in the ensuing phase, who, in turn, put Cummins in for his second touchdown.
With the Emirates Western Force quickly closing the gap, Holmes provided the ACT side with some breathing space through a 56th-minute penalty goal, before the Force hit back through a Toby Lynn try to reduce the margin to eight points. With the West Australians finding ascendancy through the second half, they opted for a lineout from a penalty, with the bearded New Zealand-born lock finding himself at the back of a rolling maul to register his first five-pointer for the Emirates Western Force.
While replacement flyhalf Dave Harvey’s conversion brought the score to 25-17, a Holmes penalty goal with seven minutes left on the clock ensured the margin remained too great for the Emirates Western Force to cover.
Emirates Western Force Defence & Skills Coach Phil Blake said that while he was pleased to see his side fight back in the second half, the damage had been done by the 40-minute mark.
“Matches are hard to win as it is without giving up 22 points,” he said. “It was disappointing; it was nice they came back in the second half through sheer weight of possession and respect for the ball and scored some nice tries, but unfortunately it was that first half that let us down.
“We had no field position. I didn’t think our kicking was a problem, I thought our biggest problem throughout the night was our missed tackles. Our first-up tackles were ineffective, particularly in the first half, they were going through us and hence leading to tries.
“In the second half, we kept the ball, we strung phases together, we asked questions of the defensive line, we cracked down that wall and we scored points and kept the scoreboard ticking over.
“[Losing Matt Hodgson] was a big blow which didn’t help us but I thought Locky McCaffery played quite well when he was out there and gave us a different dimension to our game.”
The Emirates Wester Force will depart for New Zealand on Tuesday before taking on the Blues at Eden Park on Saturday, 7 July.
2012 FxPro Super Rugby – Week 19
Saturday, 30 June 2012 at nib Stadium, Perth
Kick-off: 5.40pm (AWST)
Emirates Western Force 17 (Tries: N Cummins 2; Toby Lynn; Con: D Harvey 1/1, B Seymour 0/2)
Brumbies 28 (Tries: H Speight, J Mogg, Z Holmes, B Alexander; Con: Z Holmes 1/4; Pen: Z Holmes 2/3)
Emirates Western Force: 1.Pek Cowan, 2.Nathan Charles, 3.Salesi Manu, 4.Toby Lynn, 5.Nathan Sharpe, 6. Richard Brown, 7.David Pocock (c), 8.Matt Hodgson, 9. Josh Holmes, 10. Ben Seymour, 11.Napolioni Nalaga, 12. Rory Sidey, 13.Will Tupou, 14. Nick Cummins, 15. Alfie Mafi. Res: 16.Elvis Taione, 17.Ruan Smith, 18. Lachlan McCaffery, 19. Oliver Atkins, 20. Brett Sheehan, 21. David Harvey, 22.Patrick Dellit
Brumbies: 1.Ben Alexander, 2.Stephen Moore, 3.Dan Palmer, 4.Scott Fardy, 5.Sam Carter, 6.Peter Kimlin, 7.Michael Hooper, 8.Ben Mowen (c), 9.Nic White, 10.Zack Holmes, 11.Jesse Mogg, 12.Pat McCabe, 13.Andrew Smith, 14.Henry Speight, 15.Robbie Coleman, Res: 16.Anthony Hegarty, 17.Ruaidhri Murphy, 18.Leon Power, 19.Ita Vaea, 20.Ian Prior, 21. Tevita Kuridrani, 22.Cam Crawford
Yellow Cards: nil
Red Cards: nil
Referee: Ian Smith
Crowd: 13, 571
By the Clock
Min Details Score
2 Jesse Mogg Try 0 - 5
4 Zack Holmes Missed Con 0 - 5
11 Ben Alexander Try 0 - 10
12 Zack Holmes Conversion 0 - 12
28 Zack Holmes Missed PG 0 - 12
29 Henry Speight Try 0 - 17
31 Zack Holmes Missed Con 0 - 17
38 Zack Holmes Try 0 - 22
39 Zack Holmes Missed Con 0 - 22
43 Nick Cummins Try 5 - 22
45 Ben Seymour Missed Con 5 - 22
51 Nick Cummins Try 10 - 22
52 Ben Seymour Missed Con 10 - 22
56 Zack Holmes Penalty Goal 10 - 25
68 Toby Lynn Try 15 - 25
69 David Harvey Conversion 17 - 25
73 Zack Holmes Penalty Goal 17 - 28
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Originally Posted by TrevorM
