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Force snare Super win with two in sin bin

15th March, 2014
20

Western Force coach Michael Foley praised his team’s fighting spirit after they overcame two late yellow cards to secure a 31-29 Super Rugby win over the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday night.

The Force looked to have the game in the bag when their fourth try of the night gave them a 31-16 lead after 57 minutes.

But the Highlanders finished the game strongly, with Malakai Fekitoa’s try closing the gap to 10 points, before Force duo Adam Coleman and Ben McCalman were sent off in the 72nd minute.

The odds heavily favoured the Highlanders from that point on.

But the Force held on grimly for much of that time, but there was no stopping Hayden Parker crossing in the final minute, with the substitute flyhalf then needing to nail his tricky conversion to secure a draw.

Parker’s kick from six metres inside touch looked good off the boot, but hit the upright and bounced away after fading late.

The result gave the Force successive wins for the first time since April 2011, and Foley was over the moon his team were finally seeing the reward of all their hard work.

“The guys showed a lot of character,” Foley said.

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“I’m really proud of these guys. I’ve been proud of them for the past 12 months because I know how hard they’ve had to work to drag themselves up off the floor as a team.

“To again score four tries is pretty special.”

A week after scoring four first-half tries in their 32-7 win over the Rebels, the Force had another three to their name inside 38 minutes against the Highlanders.

Hooker Nathan Charles crossed in the fourth minute, before a brilliant intercept from Sias Ebersohn gave the Force their second in the 26th minute.

Three Lima Sopoaga penalties kept the Highlanders in the match, and a brilliant grubber kick from scrumhalf Aaron Smith set up a racing Shaun Treeby for an eye-catching try.

However, Highlanders hooker Liam Coltman was having a shocker.

Coltman was the player at fault in Ebersohn’s try, and his weak tackle allowed McCalman to cross just before half-time.

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The Force secured the four-try bonus point in the 57th minute when centre Junior Rasolea smothered Sopoaga’s clearance and then unleashed a brilliant sidestep in his charge to the line.

But the visitors were forced to defend grimly from that point on, with their task made daunting when Coleman was sent off for a professional foul and McCalman was shown yellow for a spear tackle in the same piece of play.

The Highlanders lacked urgency in the final eight minutes, and it came back to bite them as they slumped to their sixth straight defeat against the Force.

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