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The Emirates Western Force has fallen short in their bid for back to back wins at home as an in-form Chiefs side called on all their big guns to conjure a 20 – 12 victory and elevate themselves to the top of the FxPro Super Rugby standings.
After scoring nine tries in the past fortnight the Emirates Western Force weren’t allowed to find their attacking mojo by a stubborn Chiefs’ defence, however the boot of fullback David Harvey ensured they didn’t let their Kiwi opponents get any significant breaks on the scoreboard during the opening 40 minutes.
To their credit the Emirates Western Force was resolute in their defensive assignment against a side that from the outset showed their willingness to spread the ball wide and run at the defence.
While the efforts to restrict the Chiefs attack pleased Coach Richard Graham, the lack of creativity and awareness in the Emirates Western Force backs created an imbalance they were unable to recover from.
“I thought our efforts as a team defensively were outstanding,” Graham said.
“I thought we really supported each other in that respect of the game. In attack our forwards were outstanding again; they worked really, really hard.
“But there was no balance. Our backs didn’t offer anything when the opportunity was there and it appeared there wasn’t a willingness to get involved.”
Lelia Masaga ‘s 16th minute converted try was the only score for the visitors in the opening half while Harvey nailed two penalties for the Emirates Western Force as they went in to the break trailing 7 – 6.
The Chiefs attacking intentions following the restart were clear and they were celebrating shortly after as Sonny Bill Williams, despite the close attention of several defenders, produced a customary offload and winger Tim Nanai-Williams trotted over the line.
Harvey brought it back to just a five point defect for the West Australian’s a short time after but the home side would have been kicking themselves as they gave away a soft penalty to let Chiefs flyhalf Aaron Cruden answer with a penalty of his own to restore the eight point buffer.
That would be the margin at the close of 80 minutes with the Emirates Western Force unable to make any further inroads while the Chiefs were unable to turn their possession into points.
Graham said the lessons of playing against numerous New Zealand internationals would serve his young back brigade well, while experienced reinforcements could be in action next Friday night with Cameron Shepherd and Fijian star Napolioni Nalaga both chances to return from injury.
“Obviously every time you get to start and play a side with the number of All Blacks that they had in it you’re going to learn from it and I think that’s obviously the important thing for us,” said Graham.
“We’ve got another game here next week against the Waratahs so it’ll be important that Seymour, Harvey, Stanley and so forth take the lessons from tonight and put those towards our preparation and look to get a result next week.”
2012 FxPro Super Rugby – Week 7
Friday, 6 April 2012 at nib Stadium
Kick-off: 7.40pm (AWST)
Emirates Western Force 12 (Pens: D Harvey 4/5)
Chiefs 20 (Tries: L Masaga, T. Nanai-Williams; Con: A Cruden 2/2; Pen: A Cruden 2/3)
Emirates Western Force: 1.Pek Cowan, 2.Nathan Charles, 3.Salesi Ma’afu, 4.Toby Lynn, 5.Nathan Sharpe, 6.Richard Brown, 7.David Pocock (Captain), 8.Matt Hodgson, 9.Brett Sheehan, 10.Ben Seymour, 11.Alfie Mafi, 12.Winston Stanley, 13.Nick Cummins, 14.Samu Wara, 15.David Harvey, 16.Elvis Taione, 17.Kieran Longbottom, 18.Phoenix Battye, 19.Ben McCalman, 20.Josh Holmes, 21.Rory Sidey, 22.Patrick Dellit
Chiefs: 1.Arizona Taumalolo, 2. Mahonri Schwalger, 3.Ben Tameifuna, 4.Craig Clarke (Captain), 5. Brodie Retallick, 6.Liam Messam, 7.Tanerau Latimer, 8.Kane Thompson, 9.Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 10.Aaron Cruden, 11.Tim Nanai-Williams, 12.Sonny Bill Williams, 13.Richard Kahui, 14.Lelia Masaga, 15.Robbie Robinson, 16.Hika Elliot, 17.Josh Hohneck, 18.Michael Fitzgerald, 19.Sam Cane, 20.Augustine Pulu, 21.Andrew Horrell, 22.Jackson Willison
Yellow Cards: nil
Red Cards: nil
Referee: Jonathon White
Crowd: 17,112
By the clock
Min Details Score
9 David Harvey Penalty Goal 3 - 0
16 Lelia Masaga Try 3 - 5
17 Aaron Cruden Conversion 3 - 7
21 David Harvey Penalty Goal 6 - 7
32 David Harvey Missed PG 6 - 7
45 Aaron Cruden Missed PG 6 - 7
48 Tim Nanai-Williams Try 6 - 12
49 Aaron Cruden Conversion 6 - 14
51 David Harvey Penalty Goal 9 - 14
53 Aaron Cruden Penalty Goal 9 - 17
57 David Harvey Penalty Goal 12 - 17
69 Aaron Cruden Penalty Goal 12 - 20
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Originally Posted by GIGS20
