Late try sinks Brumbies
Two tries from winger David Smith helped Western Force to a 27-19 victory over the ACT Brumbies in Canberra on Sunday.
Last Updated: 17/04/11 12:05pm
Two tries from winger David Smith helped Western Force to a 27-19 victory over the ACT Brumbies in Canberra on Sunday.
James O'Connor also touched down and added a further ten points with the boot to close the gap to just a single point on their hosts towards the foot of the Super 15 table.
Opposite number Matt Giteau accounted for all of his side's points, scoring a try and slotting a conversion and four penalties at the Canberra Stadium.
The home side dominated posession in the first half and opened their account five minutes in when Giteau struck his first penalty.
The fly-half then showed some great supporting running to capitalise on a line break by inside centre Cristian Lealiifano, who put him in with a neat offload.
Giteau converted his own try to put the hosts into a 10-0 lead after 26 minutes.
But with three minutes to go to the break O'Connor beat everyone to a ball hacked forward by Force centre Rory Sidey and raced 75 metres to the line.
Willie Ripia added the extras to take his side into the break trailing by just 10-7.
Boost
Giteau extended the hosts' lead to six points with his second penalty three minutes after the restart, but the Force reply was instant.
After winning the turnover, the visitors spread the ball wide to Smith who finished the move to claim his first Super 15 try since arriving from the Hurricanes in November.
O'Connor struck his second conversion to make it 14-13 and put the visitors into the lead for the first time.
Giteau and O'Connor twice traded penalties taking the score to 20-19 as the lead changed hands four times in the final 30 minutes.
With just three minutes to go, however, Smith crossed for his second in a well-worked move from an attacking scrum to put some daylight between the two sides.
O'Connor converted to close the game out and deny the Brumbies a valuable bonus point.
Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe said he was delighted with the victory and hoped it would give his side a much-needed boost.
"I'm stoked with the win for the boys," he said. "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.
"I'm hoping that's a sign of better things to come from us."
