The beauty of sport is that even the most ugly, scrappy contest can transform into an instant classic with a thrilling finish.
So it was in Perth as the Force fell short against the Blues in a 22-18 defeat, 70 minutes of attritional rugby giving way to the most dramatic finale we’ve seen this season to date.
Time and again the Force threw themselves into the table-toppers’ line with victory just metres away, and time and again they were repelled.
Finally, after 26 phases of pure desperation from both sides, the turnover was caused; and the Blues, whose usual brilliance was lacking but made up for it at the death through sheer force of will, could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The Force lose no friends out of defeat: as poor as the Blues were, it was the Westerners’ pressure that caused much of it.
But for a pair of missed conversions from Bayley Kuenzle in the second half, a monumental upset could well have been achieved; but as it stands, the Force remain without a victory at home in 2022.
If ever a match deserved a furious set of victors and a proud group of losers, it was this one; speaking after the match, Force star Manasa Mataele, whose first-half try summed up the home side’s early dominance, even indulged in a cheery smile.
“The boys left it out there, and that’s what we talked about. Leaving no stone unturned,” Mataele told Stan Sport.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t come away with the win, but a big step up from our lads. The last couple of weeks, it’s been tough, but big ups.
“The last couple of minutes, we gave it our all.”
Coming in off a horror preparation due to a COVID outbreak that saw their Super Round match postponed, the Force weren’t expected to so much as challenge a white-hot Blues outfit with a second consecutive Super Rugby title in their sights.
But aside from 15 minutes of trademark Auckland brilliance in the first half, which saw Sam Darry, Akira Ioane and AJ Lam score in quick succession to turn a deficit into a 22-8 half time lead, the underdogs were more than a match for the New Zealanders, whose horror night at lineout summed up what was quite clearly their worst performance of the season.
However, captain Dalton Papali’i was quick to applaud the Force’s tenacity and pressure, though he admitted the Blues were well and truly off their game.
“It’s a credit to them [the Force], they came back and they put us under pressure,” he said after the game.
“We just held in there, but to be honest, we put it on ourselves with our discipline and our errors.
“You can’t win games like that. We’ve got to understand that and actually be better and execute in those moments.”
Despite a whopping ten changes for the match, Papali’i refused to blame fresh faces for the performance, saying the team needed to ‘put your best foot forward’ regardless of personnel.
“Whoever puts that jersey on has a job to do to give their utmost. There’s no excuses there,” he said.
“You could just see in that game, the discipline and the mistakes we made out there, we just need to execute in those moments.
“There were dropped balls out there, basic skills that we need to be better at.
“It’s credit to the Western Force – we never take them lightly, and it showed out there. They just kept the hammer down, put us under pressure, and it could have gone either way.”
While not as chipper as Mataele, a proud Force captain Feleti Kaitu’u said the inspiration of the ANZACs was behind the performance, with their postponed game against Moana Pasifika seeing them continue the Super Round theme.
“We spoke about bravery and courage, the themes of the ANZACs, all throughout the week,” he told Stan Sport.
“I’m just so proud of my men to see it come to fruition, especially in that second half. Holding the Blues scoreless – I can’t fault the effort.
“A lot of the issues we experienced early on in the season were probably around our attitude and mindset and some of the effort areas.
“I think we turned a real corner tonight… for the most part, the attitude and intent will take us a long way moving forward.
“Looking back at the game, there were probably some key moments where we weren’t as clinical as we would have liked to have been.
“[We] allowed the Blues to sort of sneak back into the game. We’ll review that hard. We just came out hard and focussed on nailing our basics.”
Heading into half time after appearing to weather the Force storm in the opening minutes, it was a lethargic Blues that took to the field after the break.
Dropped balls, listless defence and more lineout worries continued to plague the favourites, the Force capitalising with tries to Jeremy Thrush and Bo Abra to set up a thrilling finish.
Speaking after the match on Stan Sport, Justin Marshall, who had tipped a 40+-point win for the Blues before the game, accused the favourites of being ‘half-cocked’ in their second half fade-out.
“What I thought was noticeably missing in the second half for the Blues was the physicality they had in the first half,” he said.
“I just wonder whether or not they were sort of half-cocked when they came out in the second half, expecting that physicality dominance to continue.
It certainly went missing, and the Force were the more physical side.”
“They were slightly complacent coming out… and the Force capitalised on that.
“And they really grew substantially throughout the game. I did not see that drama coming, believe me!”
As it stands, it’s yet another win for a New Zealand side over an Australian – though the gap in class between the two teams appears to have narrowed from last year.
The Force were brave – but you don’t get points for bravery.