Blues survive Force fightback
SUPER RUGBY REPORT: The Blues have dealt the Western Force’s finals prospects a major blow with a thrilling 22-18 Super Rugby Pacific win in Perth.
The Auckland side held on under immense pressure in the dying stages after both teams ran in three tries at HSB Stadium on Friday.
The Force missed all three conversion attempts and will rue being unable to strike for the winning play after attacking the Blues’ line for 26 phases at the death.
The loss leaves the Force precariously placed in eighth position with a 2-7 win-loss record little more than a month out from the playoffs.
After trailing 8-22 at halftime, inspired veteran Jeremy Thrush offered Force fans hope of an unlikely comeback victory when he forced his way over to reduce the margin to nine points with 15 minutes remaining.
The Force then made it a four-point ball game with four minutes left on the clock when replacement Bo Abra crashed over from a base of a ruck.
It was a nervy finish for the visitors but they held on for the win in the end.
The Blues’ try-scorers in the first half were Sam Darry, Akira Ioane and AJ Lam.
Flyhalf Beauden Barrett added seven points with the boot.
The scorers:
For Western Force:
Tries: Mataele, Thrush, Abra
Pen: Kuenzle
For Blues:
Tries: Darry, A. Ioane, Lam
Cons: Barrett 2
Pen: Barrett
Yellow cards: Santiago Medrano (Western Force, 43′); Sam Darry (Blues, 5′)
Teams:
Force: 15 Jake Strachan, 14 Toni Pulu, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Bayley Kuenzle, 11 Manasa Mataele, 10 Reesjan Pasitoa, 9 Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, 8 Ollie Callan, 7 Kane Koteka, 6 Fergus Lee-Warner, 5 Izack Rodda, 4 Ryan McCauley, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Feleti Kaitu’u (captain), 1 Tom Robertson.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Ready, 17 Bo Abra, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Jeremy Thrush, 20 Tim Anstee, 21 Alex Masibaka, 22 Ian Prior, 23 Richard Kahui.
Blues: 15 Zarn Sullivan, 14 AJ Lam, 13 Bryce Heem, 12 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Finlay Christie, 8 Anton Segner, 7 Dalton Papalii (captain), 6 Akira Ioane, 5 Sam Darry, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Ofa Tuungafasi, 2 Kurt Eklund, 1 Alex Hodgman.
Replacements: 16 Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Karl Tu’inukuafe, 18 Marcel Renata, 19 James Tucker, 20 Adrian Choat, 21 Taufa Funaki, 22 Tanielu Tele’a, 23 Mark Telea.
Referee: Angus Gardner
Assistant referees: Graham Cooper, Jordan Kaminski
TMO: Kyle Burnett
Additional source: AAP