The ACT Brumbies kept their Super 14 hopes alive with a last-minute penalty from winger Mark Gerrard to sneak past Perth-based Western Force 14-12 on Friday.
The win, their fourth in a row, moves the Brumbies into fourth place on the Super 14 table. But they will have to lift their game several notches if they are to threaten the Crusaders next weekend and maintain their hopes for the semifinals.
The Force secured a bonus point for finishing within seven points of the Brumbies and with two home games remaining they still have a slim hope of making the semis.
Only one try was scored in a match featuring a mixture of high-class defence and poor ball control.
The Force, in particular, were impressive in defence considering they conceded more than 100 points in their previous two matches in New Zealand, against the Crusaders and the Chiefs.
”The Force defended superbly tonight,” ACT coach Lawrie Fisher said. ”They obviously did a lot of hard work during the week.”
ACT hooker Jeremy Paul scored the only try in the match as both teams’ defences dictated the game.
The half-time score of 8-6 to the Brumbies reflected the closeness of the two sides.
The Force played the last 15 minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second with only 14 men as first skipper Nathan Sharpe and then Ryan Cross were shown yellow cards for persistent fouls.
The Brumbies attacked relentlessly during this period but couldn’t breach the Force’s line until the stroke of half-time when Paul somehow burrowed his way over, despite being tackled by four Force players.
Sharpe said playing a man down for 20 minutes had cost the Force.
”Twenty minutes, when we reflect on it, probably would have taken a fair chunk of energy out of the boys,” he said. — AFP
