Force(ful) comeback in Aussie derby
Fri, 16 May 2008 15:03
The Western Force produced the comeback of the season when they scored 29 unanswered points to beat the Brumbies 29-22 in their final Super 14 match at the Subiaco Oval, Perth, on Saturday.
In the first half-an-hour the Brumbies raced into a 22-0 lead, scoring four of the easiest tries you would have seen this season. It looked like men against boys.
However, in the end the boys taught their masters a few lessons - the Force scoring one try before the break and another three in the second half, while not giving the visitors another sniff in what was coach Laurie Fisher's last game in charge of the Canberra side.
What a freakish match! After half an hour, you would have sworn that the Brumbies were going to carry on cantering away from the Western Force. They had far too much class, it seemed. They were scoring points with effortless ease against a side that had to work so hard for so little. Artists were playing artisans.
That is how it seemed.
Afterwards captain Stirling Mortlock said that the first 30 minutes had probably been the best Brumbies' performance of the 2008 Super 14. After all they had raced to the fastest bonus point of the year.
Then siesta set in for the Brumbies, for whatever reason. Suddenly elan was gone and the Brumbies became bumblers as they dropped passes, fell off tackles and did not look like scoring a serious try after this as the Western Force piled on 29 unanswered points. 29! It was the greatest comeback of the season.
When the Western Force scored their first try, it did not raise speculation. It seemed an amiable bit of consolation for a nice group of chaps. It was in fact the start of a victory roll that took the Western Force to their first win over an Australian team in this Super 14.
It was not all that intense a match. There were too many errors for that - sloppy scrums, sloppy handling, long injury breaks, often for cramp, and 18 free kicks - not many penalties (8) but 18 free kicks.
The smoke cleared at Subiaco Oval and Matt Giteau kicked off for what was to be an effective if not perfect match for him. The Brumbies were soon on the attacking running inroads into the Western Force defence at will. going left, flyhalf Christian Lealiifano chipped off the outside of his right foot. The ball sat up for left wing Francis Fainifo as Cameron Shepherd and Dane Haylett-Petty converged on the ball. Fainifo got there first, nipped away from the defenders and went over for the try with Chris O'Young grabbing at his shirt tails. Mortlock converted. 7-0 after 3 minutes.
There was not a long wait for the second try as after many phases George Smith threw a long and perfect skip-pass to unmarked Mark Gerrard and he was over in the left corner for a try that had started from a line-out on the right. 12-0 after six minutes.
There was a new Super 14 referee in the middle - Nathan Pearce of Bathurst. The Brumbies were up 12-0 before he was needed to make a decision. That came after 8 minutes after a knock-on.
The Western Force did have an attack with Richard Brown prominent but they yielded a free kick. For the first time Pearce was booed in Super 14 rugby!
In this match only one penalty kick was aimed at the posts - that was with 17 minutes to go. Both teams wanted tries.
A penalty to the Brumbies produced a five-metre line-out on their left from which they moved right in phases and then back left till Mortlock sent Fainifo over in the corner in O'Young;'s tackle. 17-0 after 18 minutes.
Again it was meany phases left, right and left again and a perfect pass from George Smith that earned the Brumbies their bonus-point try for Adam Ashley-Cooper as the referee played advantage. 22-0 after 27 minutes.
The Western Force had made little progress with the ball in hand but the first sign of Brumby brittleness came when David Pocock went racing down the right.
The Western Force used a -penalty to get a five-metre line-out on the left. They mauled and then went through short phases going right. Haig Sare was close and then suddenly 17-year-old Nudgee College boy from Brisbane swerved outside Fainifo to score a try. Giteau converted. 22-7 after 33 minutes. Not that the Brumbies looked threatened. One try was not going to make a victory.
The Brumbies started the second half well with a clever chip by Fainifo but after two tries in two minutes by the Western Force and the danger sirens were wailing.
The Western Force took a leaf out of the Brumbies book and went through many phases and two clever passes by O'Connor to produce and overlap for former league player Josh Tatupu who just got the ball down in the corner in Patrick Phibbs's tackle. 22-12 after 47 minutes.
\The Brumbies kicked off on the full and the Western Force were back attacking. Going left Giteau broke sharply and raced to the posts for a try which he converted. 22-19.
Now it seemed that the Western Force were not just threatening. They were executing. Victory was theirs. The Western Force were forging ahead.
Mark Chisholm had a great run but he was isolated and that run was isolated. Brumby structures had crumbled.
Giteau put pressure on Gerrard near his line and Matt Hodgson caught him. The Western Force tapped a free kick and bashed. The big men bashed and then little O'Young picked up, nipped between Phibbs and Alister Campbell and scored. 26-22 after 58 minutes.
The Western Force had a penalty but went for the attacking line-out and then attacked with a will till Tyrone Smith tackled Giteau high in front of the posts. This time the Western Force accepted the three points. 29-22 with 217 minutes to play.
There was a little Brumbies flash when Josh Holmes broke but that soon fizzled out as the Brumbies' handling crumbled.
Subiaco Oval and its 21 000 spectators in blue smacked their sticks together and went away happy.
Man of the Match: Nobody played with the intensity, competitiveness and effectiveness of David Pocock.
Moment of the Match: Chris O'Young's try - it was the crowning glory of a great fightback.
Villain of the Match: Nobody.
The scorers:
For the Western Force:
Tries: O'Connor, Tatupu, Giteau, O'Young
Cons: Giteau 3
Pen: Giteau
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Fainifo 2, Gerrard, Ashley-Cooper
Con: Mortlock
Teams:
Western Force: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Josh Tatupu, 12 James O'Connor, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau (vice-captain), 9 Chris O'Young, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Matt Hodgson, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4
David Pusey, 3 Troy Takiari, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Luke Holmes, 17 Kieran Longbottom, 18 Sitaleki Timani, 19 Sam Wykes, 20 James Stannard, 21 Scott Daruda, 22 Haig Sare.
Brumbies: 15 Mark Gerrard, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Tyrone Smith, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Patrick Phibbs, 8 Stephen Hoiles, 7 George Smith, 6 Mitchell Chapman, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 John Ulugia, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Salesi Ma'afu, 18 Peter Kimlin, 19 Julian Salvi, 20 Joshua Holmes, 21 Matt Toomua, 22 Afusipa Taumoepeau.
Referee: Nathan Pearce (Australia)
Touch judges: Paul Marks (Australia), Ian Smith (Australia)
TMO: Geoff Acton (Australia)
