David Hill’s drop goal a minute after the siren sounded gave the Western Force its first victory of the Super 14 rugby season, a 16-15 win over the Stormers on Friday.
Hill missed a 48m penalty attempt minutes earlier. David Pocock scored the only try of the match for the Force, which led 7-6 at halftime.
Peter Grant accounted for all the Stormers’ points with five penalty goals. The South African side picked up a bonus point for losing by fewer than seven points to keep it in third place.
The win moved the Force out of last place and leaves South Africa’s Lions, 0-7, as the only team without a win this season.
The lead changed five times in the second half before Hill calmly hit the winner from 35 meters.
“I’m not sure about the drop, but I managed to hit it right,” said Hill, who arrived in Perth in late February as a replacement for injured former Springbok Andre Pretorius.
Force flanker Pocock scored in the 14th minute when he finished off a strong first-phase try that featured six passes and some slick footwork.
James O’Connor’s conversion made it 7-3 but the Force were dealt a blow five minutes later when winger Scott Staniforth limped off with what appeared to be a calf injury.
Hill missed two long-range penalties in the second half, while Grant landed three of his own as the Stormers threatened to steal the match.
“Our confidence was growing, but we still made a lot of errors,” Force captain Nathan Sharpe said.
“We didn’t come away with as many points as we would have liked, but we’re happy with the win.”
Stormers captain Schalk Burger said the Force “had a lot of momentum on us”.
“We didn’t take it lightly,” Burger said of his team’s first match of a four-game road trip. “We were pretty scrappy the whole game through.
“All credit to them. We have to put this one behind us and look forward to the [Auckland) Blue] next week.” – Sapa-AP