David Smith finally broke a try scoring drought with the Western Force to help his side to snap a three-game losing streak to beat fellow Australian side the ACT Brumbies 27-19 in a tight arm wrestle in their Super rugb match on Sunday.
Smith, who joined the Perth-based side from the Wellington Hurricanes, scored two tries, his second in the 79th minute to give his side a vital eight-point lead that consigned the Brumbies to their sixth loss of the season.
ACT Brumbies captain Matt Giteau scored all of his side’s points with a converted try and four penalties.
“I’m stoked with the win for the boys, because you toil away all year and sometimes things don’t go your way and on the back of a pretty rusty first half we came back,” Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe said in a televised interview.
“I’m hoping that’s a sign of better things to come from us.”
The Brumbies dominated posession in the first half but were only able to establish a 10-0 lead courtesy of Giteau.
The flyhalf kicked an early penalty, then was in perfect supporting position following an linebreak by inside centre Cristian Lealiifano, who passed back to Giteau to score next to the posts.
Giteau converted and while the match continued to be played between the 22-metre areas with aerial kicking the seemingly preferred tactic by both teams, the Force got back into the game when the Brumbies turned the ball over while hot on attack.
Force centre Rory Sidey hacked the ball ahead only for James O’Connor to beat everyone to the ball and score. Willie Ripia converted to send his side into the break only down 10-7.
Giteau slotted his second penalty shortly after the restart, however the Force struck back immediately, again following a turnover, and the visitors spread the ball wide to Smith to score his first Super rugby try for the Force and O’Connor converted to give them their first lead.
Both sides then began to play for territory in an attempt to force kickable penalties, with the tactic paying dividends with the lead changing four times inside 15 minutes as Giteau and O’Connor traded four penalties, though O’Connor also missed two futher shots at goal.
Smith then finished the scoring in the final two minutes after a well-worked move from an attacking scrum and O’Connor converted to ensure the Brumbies did not get a bonus point. – Reuters