Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: The Force upset the Crusaders in Perth

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Force upset the Crusaders in Perth

The Force came back from being 13-0 down at halftime to upset the powerful Crusaders 24-16 in their Super 14 clash in Perth on Friday, preventing the Crusaders from taking the top spot on the table.

The home side scored three tries in the second half through Pek Cowan, Matthew Hodgson, and Ben Whitaker, with a late penalty by David Hill preventing the Crusaders from picking up a crucial bonus point.

The Force, who were second from bottom before kickoff, delighted their loyal home crowd who once again packed the stadium and were rewarded with a great upset that will give the Crusaders a bit of a shake up ahead of the fight for semi final places.

The try of the match came from a great run from replacement hooker Nathan Charles, who then found Cameron Shephered in support, who then popped to Matt Hodgson.

The Crusaders’ Dan Carter afterwards said the Force were simply too good on the night.

"They played on the front foot and we struggled to get our game going. We turned it over and we can't afford to do that."

In other news, 22 year old Wallaby flanker David Pocock has re-signed for the Force for another two seasons. Pocock has been at the Perth-based franchise since he was 17, so has shown his loyalty by sticking around, despite them not doing too well this year.

"I do feel like I've improved a lot as a player here and I think there's more opportunity to improve. There were a few different options to think about and I did consider other things but the best decision for me at the moment is the Force," he said.

"My decision was based more on rugby and where I felt where I could develop more but it's definitely a bonus living in Perth. The beaches are good, there's hardly any traffic, it's good to get around," he added.

Time: 07:10

FRIST

By FRISTMAN, at April 28, 2010 12:02 pm
^ nice work. it's always good to get that frist comment in.

funny run by the big hooker. gassed the defence though. nice try and great result for the force.

I'm not sure pockocks choice to stay there will be great for his rugby though?

By Scotsdale, at April 28, 2010 12:08 pm
i would have loved if that hooker would have scored that try!
anyway awesome stuff by the force to win this one! helped all other aussie teams!

By sebastian, at April 28, 2010 12:19 pm
Just shows the athleticism needed to play front row these days!! Almost as quick as the backs.

Shocking bit of D from the Force 12 for the first try, embarrasing leaving that gap right on the fringes!

By Bradders, at April 28, 2010 2:14 pm
oh man....I left at half time thought it would be another spanking, would've prefer to see the fightback in real time though...

thanks Rugbydump for the highlight

By Jeroz, at April 28, 2010 2:55 pm
carry on this giant killing boys!!

By force, at April 28, 2010 4:17 pm
That was a gutting loss. First Force try was dropped on the line, knock-on; in the second try the maul separated, penalty; last try a 14 pointer after some sort of illegal play on the ground (no idea by whom); some pretty dodgy reffing*. That said, the worst bit was that the Crusaders didn't rise above it as they normally do.

Good work by the Force though, they had the stats with them for most of the game and had the edge on the Crusaders in the forwards and at the breakdown.

--
*Dodgy reffing was the theme of the round actually. That disallowed Brumbies try got the most press, but it wasn't the most egregious by any means.

By Anarchangel, at April 28, 2010 4:50 pm
I forgot to say: The Force deserved to win.

By Anarchangel, at April 28, 2010 4:56 pm
Congratulations, Force!!

By Unknown, at April 28, 2010 5:51 pm
Aussie Rugby is on the way back bro!

By Anonymous, at April 28, 2010 7:05 pm
The force deserved to win, I'm not saying they don't. But the refing was very dodgy, not biased though, just missed a lot of things on both sides that should have been picked up.

That last pass for the last try was a forward pass, the ref said a force played knocked it on even though it went off his boot, his hands no where near it.

Just a few examples, no bias involved, just plain old, shit refing.

Well done force, but I fell the ref stole the show.

By Les Bleus, at April 28, 2010 11:30 pm
Somehow my post didn't go through, but whatever. I'll try to repeat myself.

Force deserved the win, no doubt about that, the piled pressure on the Crusaders and they just couldn't get some attack going, I think the large part was that Maitland should never have played fullback.

However, the star of the show was the ref, shocking, absolutely shocking. I'm not saying he was biased, just shit, he missed a lot of calls for both teams and made calls that shouldn't have been.

The Forces first try was a knock on, the last was a forward pass, they got pinged for knocking it on but they didn't at times and the Crusaders got pinged for holding onto the ball when Pocock was lying on top of the ball.

I thought the two devils here tonight was the ref and Pocock, Pocock was just plain rubbish, every one of his attempted ''pilfers'' resulted in a penalty to the Crusaders because of illegal rucking and he should have been given a yellow card.

The Force deserved the win though, congratulations to a team riddled with injuries, using a second-string side, beating the best in the competition.

By Les Bleus, at April 28, 2010 11:35 pm
You're right about Maitland, Les Bleus. I'm a huge fan of his (yeah, and his boots), but a fullback he is not.

Fortunately he's back to the wing for the next (Stormers?) game with Slade at the back.

By Anarchangel, at April 29, 2010 12:01 am
The ref made some mistakes but the Force were on top.
Les Blues bare in mind that Pocock is coming back from injury and is still adapting to the new rucking laws.
He's still a machine on defence.

By Anonymous, at April 29, 2010 1:21 am
The Force are a good squad who had a horro start to the year, with heaps of injuries.
They've won three of their last four though, and are showing their real ability.
They;ve got some very good players in thier squad, like Sharpe, Pocock, Brown, O'Conner and Hodgson.

By Jon, at April 29, 2010 1:37 am
Awesome result for the Force. Great run by the hooker also! only guys like Schalk Brits can run like that... Pocock is the next George Smith for sure, only he does less penalties!

By Joost, at April 29, 2010 5:05 am
Congrats to the Force.....but geez. That first Force try was suspect and that last one looked like a forward pass at the end.

By nuffinsaz, at April 29, 2010 10:08 am