The Force snatched a 16-15 victory from the lacklustre Stormers in Perth with an extra time drop goal from David Hill for their first win of the season.
Super 14.com reports that the drop goal was David Hill’s first ever Super Rugby drop goal and the victory leaves the Lions as the only team in the tournament without a win.
Hill missed a 48-meter penalty attempt minutes earlier.
Going into the match the Stormers had on average conceded less than 10 points a match and had only lost one match.
In the Stormers only other loss they conceded 19 points to the Brumbies in Cape Town.
The match was dominated by penalties as Stormers kicker Peter Grant traded penalties with Force kicker James O’ Connor (pictured).
James O’Connor set up the only try of the match when he passed to David Pocock who was making his comeback from injury.
Speaking after the match Stormers captain Schalk Burger said,” We did not take the Force lightly.”
“We were just a little offbeat,” added Burger.
Peter Grant accounted for all the Stormers’ points with five penalty goals.
The South African side picked up a bonus point for losing by fewer than seven points to keep it in third place.
The lead changed five times in the second half before Hill calmly hit the winner from 35 meters.
“I’m not sure about the drop, but I managed to hit it right,” said Hill, who arrived in Perth in late February as a replacement for injured former Springbok Andre Pretorius.
Force flanker Pocock scored in the 14th minute when he finished off a strong first-phase try that featured six passes and some slick footwork.
James O’Connor’s conversion made it 7-3 but the Force were dealt a blow five minutes later when winger Scott Staniforth limped off with what appeared to be a calf injury.
Hill missed two long-range penalties in the second half, while Grant landed three of his own as the Stormers threatened to steal the match.
“Our confidence was growing, but we still made a lot of errors,” Force captain Nathan Sharpe said.
“We didn’t come away with as many points as we would have liked, but we’re happy with the win.”
Stormers captain Schalk Burger said the Force “had a lot of momentum on us.”
“We didn’t take it lightly,” Burger said of his team’s first match of a four-game road trip.
“We were pretty scrappy the whole game through.
“All credit to them. We have to put this one behind us and look forward to the (Auckland) Blues next week.”
Final Score Western Force 16 – 15 Stormers
Force
Tries – D Pocock.
Pen – J O’Connor 2
Con – J O’Connor
Drop – D Hill
Stormers
Pen – P. Grant 5
Man of the match : Nathan Sharpe
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I can’t believe there are guys blaming the loss on the Referee Stuart Dickinson. 😕
Pity the Stormers lost, but we all have to lose a game sometime. Funny how the top teams play the bottom of the log teams and lose, happens so many times in CC and Super14
@dawnwallenkamp (Comment 2) : lets the sharks back in if they win tomorrow and the bulls lose sharks will have 16/7 points and the front runers will have come back to the pack
Thank goodness i missed the game. How the hell do we lose to these useless Aussies after we thrashed them in the pre season game?? Aaarrrggggghhhhh
@wpw (Comment 4) :
We can call these guys the Aussie Cheetahs. 😳 Raise their game against table topping teams and then relax against anyone else.
stormer were flat, cant blame anyone but themselves
SA teams always play kak against the bottomfeeders 🙄 🙄
well me didn’t get a point on sb 🙁 had stormers by 5 👿 😥