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Substitute Blues five-eighth Stephen Brett nailed a penalty after the siren to break the hearts of the Western Force in a 22-22 Super Rugby draw in Perth on Saturday night.
The Force led 22-12 with just three minutes remaining following a first-half try to outside centre Nick Cummins and 17 points off the boot from James O’Connor.
Kevin Mealamu’s 77th minute try and Brett’s conversion closed the margin to three points.
But the Force settled and appeared on track for victory as they unleashed a series of pick-and-drives as the clock counted down.
With less than 15 seconds remaining, referee Nathan Pearce penalised the Force forwards for going over the top, with Brett kicking truly from 39m out on a slight angle to break the hearts of the 15,931 fans on hand.
It left the Force with just one draw from three games ahead of their trip to South Africa, where the Lions and Stormers await.
O’Connor had a golden night with the boot, nailing his first six shots on goal and also unleashing a spectacular try-saving tackle on Blues fullback Isaia Toeava in the second half.
But it wasn’t enough for the Force, who must be wondering just what they must do to notch a win after their heartbreaking one-point loss to the Reds in round one.
The radar of Luke McAlister was wayward early as the Blues five-eighth missed two easy penalties in the opening six minutes.
His opposite number O’Connor showed him how to do it, nailing two penalties to give the Force an early 6-0 buffer.
The Blues suffered a major blow in the 18th minute when All Blacks lock Ali Williams limped off with an ankle injury but the visitors were soon on level terms as McAlister finally found his range.
Defence was the theme of the day as both sides struggled to penetrate but the Force thought they had finally broken through the Blues’ line when James O’Connor’s inventive chip and chase resulted in Sam Wykes barging over the line.
Celebrations soon turned to despair when the TMO ruled Wykes had been held up over the line, despite replays appearing to indicate the Force lock had done enough to ground the ball.
However, it proved only an inconvenience for the home side, who notched a deserved try on the stroke of half-time when they swung it wide for Cummins to cross to make it 16-9.
O’Connor’s 62nd-minute penalty stretched the margin to 22-12, but from there the Blues hit back, scoring 10 points in the final three minutes to secure the draw.
The Force were reduced to 14 men with just four minutes to go when Jono Jenkins was sent to the sin bin.
“I’m pretty gutted to be honest,” Force coach Richard Graham said.
“I thought we worked really well there for 80 minute.”
Blues coach Pat Lam said his men were lucky to earn a share of the spoils.
“They really got into us,” Lam said.
“We made too many errors. We put ourselves under pressure and we know we’re fortunate to get a draw out of that game.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.