HURRICANES TOO STRONG AT THE ‘FORCE FIELD’

Feb 27 • General News, Super Rugby • 2417 Views • Comments Off on HURRICANES TOO STRONG AT THE ‘FORCE FIELD’

The Western Force has gone down to the Wellington Hurricanes, 42-13, at the ‘Force Field’ (nib Stadium) tonight.

The Hurricanes, who held a 15-6 half-time lead, dominated the contact zone allowing them to run in five-tries-to-one in the 29-point victory.

Force No.8 Ben McCalman continued his outstanding start to the season with another strong performance at the back of the scrum, while Zack Holmes claimed the Haigh & Hastings Man of the Match after threatening the line and finding space with his kicking game. Replacement flanker Kane Koteka was also impressive in his Asteron Life Super Rugby debut, challenging hard against his bigger and more experienced Hurricanes opponents.

The Force’s lone try came in the second half through replacement winger Mitchell Scott, who tore away from the Hurricanes chasers in his 60-metre dash to the try line.

The Force, who play five of their first seven matches on the road, will now travel to Canberra to face the ACT Brumbies on Friday, 6 March.

Tickets to Western Force’s next home match against the Melbourne Rebels on Friday, 13 March are now available! Visit ticketmaster.com.au.

WHAT THEY SAID…

Michael Foley, Western Force Head Coach

“When it comes to it, their body height was better than ours in a lot of those contact areas. Once you lose the collisions both in attack and defence it’s very hard to get into the game. There were times when we had possession and we didn’t do anything with it and that was largely around the contact area. There were times when they had possession and often that was from our turnovers – which is the type of possession that they are most likely to have – and they cut us up. Getting the attacking contact right against a team like the Hurricanes gives you an opportunity to score but if you don’t, it gives them an opportunity to score and that was the major turning point I think in the game and I don’t think we got that part right.

“It’s taken some time to build a reputation as a group of fighters, and I think they are a group of fighters. When we have a look back at that game, it’s going to hurt a lot – it hurts now. But I think everybody in the squad will be ready to go come Monday.”

2014 Asteron Life Super Rugby – Week Three
Friday, 27 February 2015 at the ‘Force Field’ (nib Stadium), Perth	Kick-off: 7pm	Crowd: 14,670
Wellington Hurricanes 42 (Cory Jane, Mark Abbott, Victor Vito, Julian Savea, James Marshall try; Beauden Barrett 2/3 conversions, 3/3 penalty goals, James Marshal 2/2 conversions) defeated Western Force 13 (Mitchell Scott try; Zack Holmes 1/2 penalty goals, Luke Burton 1/1 conversions, 1/2 penalty goals )
Half time: Wellington Hurricanes 15-6
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen

Western Force

Western Force: 1. Pekahou Cowan, 2. Nathan Charles, 3. Tetera Faulkner, 4. Sam Wykes (c), 5. Steve Mafi, 6. Angus Cottrell, 7. Brynard Stander, 8. Ben McCalman, 9. Alby Mathewson, 10. Zack Holmes, 11. Marcel Brache, 12. Solomoni Jnr Rasolea, 13. Kyle Godwin, 14. Luke Morahan, 15. Luke Burton.

Reserves: 16. Heath Tessmann, 17. Chris Heiberg, 18. Oliver Hoskins, 19. Rory Walton, 20. Kane Koteka, 21. Ian Prior, 22. Sias Ebersohn, 23. Mitchell Scott.

Head Coach: Michael Foley

Wellington Hurricanes

1.Reggie Goodes, 2. Dane Coles (c), 3. Ben Franks, 4. Mark Abbott, 5. James Broadhurst, 6. Ardie Savea, 7. Brad Shields, 8. Victor Vito, 9. Chris Smiley, 10 Beauden Barrett, 11. Julian Savea, 12. Ma’a Nonu, 13. Rey Lee-Lo, 14. Cory Jane, 15. James Marshall.

Reserves: 16. Brayden Mitchell, 17. Jeffrey Toomoga-Allen, 18. Chris Eves, 19. Callum Gibbins, 20. Adam Hill, 21. TJ Perenara, 22. Matt Proctor, 23. Nehe Milner-Skudder.

Head Coach: Chris Boyd

BY THE CLOCK
Min		Score
2	Hurricanes Lock Mark Abbott is penalised for not rolling away. Zack Holmes kicks penalty from 37 metres out.	3-0
12	From counter attack, Julian Savea makes a break down the left wing. In the next phase the Hurricanes spread the ball wide to the right with Cory Jane touching down in the corner. Beauden Barrett misses the conversion.	3-5
16	Hurricanes captain Dane Coles is penalised for playing the ball off his feet. Holmes misses the penalty attempt.	3-5
26	The Hurricanes inch the ball towards the try line through their forwards with Abbott picking and driving over the try line adjacent to the posts. Barrett adds the conversion.	3-12
36	Sam Wykes is penalised for holding onto the ball. Barrett kicks the penalty from 40 metres out.	3-15
40	The Western Force gets to within one metre of the Hurricanes’ line through a burst from Kyle Godwin. The Hurricanes are penalised for being offside allowing Luke Burton to kick the penalty attempt.	6-15
	HALF TIME	6-15
43	Pek Cowan is penalised for not rolling away. Barrett converts the long range penalty attempt.	6-18
47	The Hurricanes are penalised for leaving their feet at the ruck. Burton hits the upright with the penalty attempt.	6-18
54	Junior Rasolea is penalised for playing the ball in an offside position. Barrett kicks the penalty.	6-21
61	From a Hurricanes’ five-metre scrum, Barrett takes a tackle before Victor Vito drives over from the back of the ruck. Barrett converts.	6-28
64	From turnover ball the Hurricanes break from inside their own half through Nehe Milner-Skudder, who sends Julian Savea down the left hand touch line to score. James Marshall converts.	6-35
67	James Marshall chases through a kick and fumbles on the try line with Chris Smylie collecting the ball and placing it over the line. TMO George Ayoub rules that the ball was knocked on.	6-35
73	Ma’a Nonu grubbers through on halfway. Milner-Skudder kicks through in an attempt to gather with Julian Savea collecting the ball to score. Ayoub rules Savea was offside from the second kick.	6-35
77	Sias Ebersohn catches a Savea chip kick on his 22-metre line and gives an inside ball to Mitchell Scott who races 60 metres to score. Burton converts.	13-35
80	From a Hurricanes ruck on their attacking try line, Marshall steps inside the defence to score.	13-42