Force snatch last gasp victory
Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:38
Heartbreak kid: Ryan Cross
The Western Force scored in the final minute to snatch a dramatic 15-14 Super 14 victory over the luckless Bulls in Perth on Friday.
The Bulls lead up until the 79th minute, but a Ryan Cross try in the corner broke the hearts of the Pretoria-based franchise.
Rugby is a game of consequences.
The Bulls were manful in their defending, and they had to be because that is all they did for the whole of the second half - defend and kick.
But with seven minutes to go - yet again - they had a player sent to the sin bin. But when the Western Force were off-side they had the chance to clear, kicked downfield and had a well-positioned line-out.
As is their wont they had a maul, but in that maul Derick Kuün clamped his arms around the neck of a Western Force player whom he seemed to think was in the wrong place. He wrenched at his neck, and that was it for the Bulls as the referee penalised Kuün and the Bulls went back to defending deep in their own territory and with just over a minute to play conceded a try.
The Western Force threw in to the subsequent line-out but Bakkies Botha got up to slap the ball back.
The slap-back was wild and the Western Force forced a turnover from it and had the ball in a better position than they would have had from the line-out. That was the ball that they won off.
The finish was exciting; the game was not.
For one thing there was too much kicking - much too much. A lot of it, especially from the Bulls, was poor kicking. On one occasion they passed back inside their 22 and Morné Steyn kicked the ball out on the full. That is not bright after seven weeks of the experimental law variations.
The worst kick was probably a grubber by Morné Steyn in the second half when the Bulls had been going through phases.
A Bull is not patient, it seems, as many china shops can testify.
In the first half the Bulls looked like runaway winners.
In the second half the Western Force were all over them. Their only chance to score was inside their own 22 when the Western Force dropped the ball and Bryan Habana had a chance to snatch it up. He would have scored but dropped the ball.
In the first half, though, the speedster scored two tries. He is the only Bull, it seems, likely to score a try. That said, Matt Giteau seemed the only Western Force player who looked likely to score a try. Habana scored two, Giteau one.
The Western Force were much better at line-outs, the Bulls much better at scrums but while the Western Force had 13 line-outs to throw into, the Bulls had just two scrums, one in each half.
When the Bulls were on top the Western Force conceded six free kicks, the Bulls two. When the Western Force were on top the Bulls conceded eight free kicks, the Western Force two.
The Bulls won the first half 14-3. The Western Force won the second half 12-0.
It certainly was all change at half-time.
The Western Force scored first when Drikus van Heerden was lying on the ground and tried to grab an Western Force player by the ankle. It was silly. Cameron Shepherd goaled.
3-0 after 15 minutes.
The lead was short-lived for Akona Ndungane got the Bulls on the attack. He ran down the right, chipped and collected the ball. It was a long run but he looked likely to score till Giteau tackled him.
The Bulls battered at the Western Force line on the right side of the field. They got the ball back.
Fourie du Preez made to attack on the short right-hand side and then threw a skip pass to Habana and the left wing darted over on the right side of the field. It was far out but Derick Hougaard converted.
7-3 after 19 minutes.
Back the Bulls came on attack. They eschewed penalties in a search for tries and had three five-metre line-outs in quick succession. The Western Force held firm and when the Bulls did score again it was from a long way out.
The Western Force had the ball and Scott Staniforth was running but Wynand Olivier tackled him from behind. He lost the ball forward and Ryan Cross flicked it up to support.
But big Pedrie Wannenburg intercepted inside his own half, some 55 metres from the Western Force goal-line. Off he set as the defence closed in on him. Shepherd tackled him from behind but he popped the ball up and there was Habana to snatch it and race off for the try.
14-3 and the half-time whistle went.
The Force scored one minute after half-time and one minute before full-time. For 38 minutes there was no scoring.
The first try came as they went patiently through phases, keeping the ball but not making metres till Nathan Sharpe barged ahead. He was tackled but Giteau nipped in behind him, grabbed the ball and stretched for a try under the crossbar.
14-10 after 41 minutes.
The Bulls had a chance soon afterward. Nick Cummins dropped a high ball and Danie Rossouw seemed certain to score but just before that Kuün had knocked on.
That was it the Western Force lay siege to the Bulls line as the Greek forces had laid siege to Troy, and this time the wooden horse was of Trojan manufacture.
The Western Force attacked and the Bulls tackled. Here and there they scraped a bit of possession - a couple of free kicks, a scrum, a couple of turnovers, but they simply could not clear as the relentless Western Force came back again and again.
When they won the ball from Botha's slap-back it was on the far right. They went left. The Bulls were penalised.
The Western Force tapped. Chris O'Young was close. Shepherd was close and then they moved the ball to the far left. Luke Holmes could not hold an hard, high pass but the ball went off him into the hands of Cross who dived over in Van Heerden's despairing tackle.
The conversion was missed but there was less than a minute to play. The Western Force secured the ball, the final siren sounded and the Western Force kicked the ball into the 21,000 delighted spectators.
Man of the Match: Bryan Habana or Matt Giteau? Of the two, because of his position, Giteau played more and played brilliantly. Matt Giteau is our Man of the Match.
Moment of the Match: Pick either of the tries that Bryan Habana scored but perhaps it was the second for the sheer surprise of it - Bryan Habana's second try from the time Pedrie Wannenburg intercepted the ball.
Villain of the Match: There were two yellow cards but it is hard to see that either was all that bad and certainly not as bad as the high tackle with a reinforced arm that JP Nel inflicted on Ryan Cross.
The scorers:
For the Force:
Tries: Giteau, Cross
Con: Shepherd
Pen: Shepherd
For the Bulls:
Tries: Habana 2
Cons: Hougaard 2
The teams:
Western Force: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Scott Staniforth, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Chris O'Young, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock,6 Scott Fava, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Tom Hockings, 3 AJ Whalley, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Luke Holmes, 17 Troy Takiari, 18 Sam Wykes, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 James Stannard, 21 Josh Tatupu, 22 Dane Haylett-Petty.
Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JP Nel, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Fourie du Preez (captain), 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Wikus van Heerden, 6 Pedrie Wannenburg, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Rayno Gerber, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Jaco Engels, 19 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Morné Steyn, 22 Deon Stegmann.
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand), Matt Goddard (Australia)
Television match official: Steve Leszczynski (Australia)
Assessor: Wayne Erickson
