Jono Lance and Luke Morahan yesterday came back to haunt their old team as the disciplined Western Force kept the Queensland Reds winless in Super Rugby in Brisbane, Australia.
Flyhalf Lance kicked five penalty goals from as many attempts and laid on the kick for winger Luke Morahan to score the only try as the Force frustrated the Reds 22-6 in the battle of the two struggling Australian provinces.
Japanese star Ayumu Goromaru, starting at fullback for the first time in Super Rugby, kicked his team’s only points with two penalties, but missed two other attempts at vital stages in a scrappy encounter with few thrills.
Photo: EPA
Lance linked up with the Perth-based side via the New South Wales Waratahs this season and was the difference as Western Force nullified any Queensland attack with stout defense and kept their opponents pinned inside their own half with tactical kicking.
The Force led 9-3 at halftime and Lance continued to pile the pressure on the Reds with two more penalty goals as Goromaru was astray with one attempt and struck an upright with another shot.
The only try of a forgettable encounter came in the final minute when Lance cleverly angled a grubber kick toward the right-hand corner for Morahan to swoop on to the ball and score.
The dismal loss will only build more pressure on under-fire Reds coach Richard Graham after the Reds only won four games last season and look headed for another meagre season based on their opening two losses.
“I think our defense won it tonight,” Force skipper Matt Hodgson said. “Not only as a forward pack, but as a whole unit. I think we offered them nothing in attack and we were lucky to score a try at the end. We played for a full 80 minutes which was exciting.”
The Reds have now won only three of their last nine encounters with the Force.
LIONS 36, CHIEFS 32
The Golden Lions yesterday went two from two on the boot of Elton Jantjies when they withstood a late rally by the Waikato Chiefs to win a nail-biter in Hamilton, New Zealand.
In the closing two minutes the Chiefs twice won penalties on the Lions’ line, but were unable to convert them into points.
Being four points in arrears they were forced to go for lineout drives, but they could not break the well-drilled Lions pack.
The Lions led for most of the game, apart from a brief period at the start of the match and in the middle of the second half as they made light of their arduous travel itinerary.
They are the first team in the expanded competition to head from South Africa to Japan where they beat newcomers the Sunwolves 26-13 last week before traveling south to New Zealand.
“I’m a bit speechless at the moment,” captain Warren Whitely said when the final whistle blew. “They put so much pressure on us right until the death and we managed to pull it off in the end.”
While forward power ensured the win, Whiteley said it was the backs who deserved the credit.
“We weren’t happy with last week’s performance, so we worked really hard on our string to spread it from side to side and I think it worked,” he said.
With a superior pack and a lethal 8-9-10 combination of Whiteley, Faf de Klerk and Jantjies, the Lions dominated territory and flyhalf Jantjies feasted on penalties as the Lions raced to a 19-11 lead by halftime.
Tom Sanders scored a try for the Chiefs and Malcolm Marx scored for the Lions with Jantjies’ three penalties and a conversion making the difference in the first half, while the Chiefs’ extra points came from two Damian McKenzie penalties.
A Courtnall Skosan try early in the second half put the Lions out to a 24-11 lead before the Chiefs struck back to hit the front 25-24 when quick tries by McKenzie and James Lowe, both converted by McKenzie, produced 14 points in two minutes.
However, it was a short-lived advantage with the Lions adding a further two tries of their own by Whiteley and Ruan Combrinck.
With eight minutes remaining, the Chiefs reduced the deficit to four with a Brad Weber try converted by McKenzie, but were unable to get any closer.
HIGHLANDERS 17, HURRICANES 16
Hayden Parker was the toast of Otago yesterday after he came off the bench to kick a late penalty and give the defending champion Highlanders a 17-16 victory over the Hurricanes in Dunedin, New Zealand.
In a repeat of last year’s final, the Highlanders again came out on top, but this time the result was in doubt until Parker’s pressure kick four minutes from time.
Both sides were first round losers last week and the Wellington Hurricanes in particular needed a good comeback after their 70-point drubbing at the hands of the ACT Brumbies in Canberra.
Midway through the second half they looked to be on track to prove they were better than that when they fought back from 6-14 down to lead 16-14. Then, they withstood a torrid attack from the Highlanders when Malakai Fekitoa, Liam Squire and Aaron Smith were denied try-scoring opportunities.
However, as the clock ticked down, the Highlanders won a penalty about 30m from the posts and Parker produced the match-winning kick, much to the relief of captain Ben Smith.
“We were just lucky we pulled through at the end. It could have gone either way,” Smith said, praising his side for their reaction to the missed tries saying they “didn’t get too frustrated, and kept playing until the end.”
It was a high-octane, but error-ridden, encounter with one try apiece, and Hurricanes captain T.J. Perenara said that ultimately it was the mistakes and penalties that cost his side.
“We need to look at some critical times we made a few errors and let the Highlanders close it out at the end. We need to be better than that,” he said. “We turned the ball over, especially down in our half and they camped down there for a fair bit of that second half.”
While Parker was the match winner, it was two other contenders for Dan Carter’s All Blacks jersey who were a focal point of the game.
Lima Sopoaga kept the Highlanders in front through the first half, pulling off crucial tackles, making telling half breaks, one of which led to Malakai Fekitoa’s try and landing two penalties.
He added a third penalty in the second half before being replaced by Parker who sealed the victory.
The Hurricanes’ Beauden Barrett came into his own in the second half, whether orchestrating attacks or covering as a second fullback.
Barrett also landed two first-half penalties and another in the second as well as converting Perenara’s try which came off the end of a patient build up after earlier forays close to the line by the ’Canes ended with the critical offload going astray.
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