A penalty in the dying seconds enabled New Zealand’s Auckland Blues to snatch a lucky 22-22 draw with Australia’s Western Force in their Super 15 clash on Saturday.
It was another agonising near miss for the Force, who remain winless after three games but they will be kicking themselves as they led 22-12 with just three minutes to play.
The brilliance of James O’Connor looked to have secured a Force win, but the match turned when Jono Jenkins was sent off, leaving his side a man down for the last few minutes.
Blues captain Kevin Mealamu then burrowed over for his side’s first try in the 77th minute to ensure a tense finish.
Then with just 15 seconds left on the clock, the Force conceded a penalty and Blues reserve Stephen Brett stepped up to slot it through the uprights to snatch a draw.
Mealamu admitted his side was lucky to grab the draw.
“Fairly disappointing,” he said of their performance. “Our execution wasn’t up to scratch against a team that wanted it passionately. We are a better team than that.”
Force skipper Nathan Sharpe could only lament another near miss.
“It stinks,” he said. “We controlled the game for most of it and to end up with a draw is very disappointing.”
Until the late surge by the Blues, it appeared O’Connor had laid the foundation for an upset Force win.
He made six of seven attempts with the boot, with five penalties and one conversion.
O’Connor started the move which led to the Force’s only try in the 38th minute.
The 20-year-old produced a superbly weighted chip and then charged forward to regain possession, before handing off to Sam Wykes, who dived over for just the Force’s second try of the season.
The decision went upstairs and Wykes’s effort was ruled out as the ball was held up.
From the restart, however, the Force swept the ball wide and Wykes passed off to Nick Cummins for an easy try that gave the home team a 16-9 lead at the break.
Luke McAlister’s fourth penalty conversion early in the second half closed the gap to four points, but successive penalties to O’Connor in the 50th and 62nd minutes gave the Force a 22-12 lead.
O’Connor made a rare mistake in the 70th minute when his long-range penalty attempt fell just short and it proved pivotal to the final result. – AFP