Giteau earns his purse

[laura]

Giteau earns his purse
4th May 2008, 12:30 WST

Matt Giteau earned his millions the hard way at a drama-charged Subiaco Oval last night.

The Western Force fly-half showed nerves of high-tensile steel to coolly slot a penalty kick after the final siren for a 22-21 victory which sent the crowd of 21,500 into rapture.

The win prolongs the Force’s mathematical chance of making the finals for a further week at least.

Although the Chiefs got bonus points for finishing within seven points, they will drop out of the top four.

The visitors paid the price for profligacy with hand and boot.

They butchered at least five try-scoring chances and fly-half Stephen Donald had a bad night with his goal kicking, missing three chances he’d normally make without any trouble.

The Force raced to a 14-3 half time lead with tries from Matt Hodgson and Drew Mitchell dominating the opening 40 minutes, despite a makeshift side which included several teenagers and club players.

A Lelia Masaga try soon after the restart gave the Chiefs some momentum but their high error rate gave the Force a chance to gain territory and, on one of those forays, scrum-half James Stannard sneaked over the line on the blind side to a 19-8 lead.

The last 20 minutes belonged to the Chiefs, who pounded at the Force defence.

Donald scored a converted try and booted a penalty to close the gap to 19-18 and when Callum Bruce dropped a goal with four minutes left to give the Chiefs the lead for the first time at 21-19, it seemed they’d escape with a win.

However, the Force fought back and got across the line with three seconds left when Cameron Shepherd scooped up the ball and touched down.

The television referee spotted a knock-on, however, and boos resounded around the ground.

They changed to cheers when referee Marius Jonker called play back for an earlier penalty and Giteau duly earned the Force a win, in much the same way Shepherd did against the Hurricanes last year.

DAVE HUGHES

[jono]

its not a makeshift side anymore dave.
taking injuries into account, mitch should still be spoilt for choice next week.
which is how it should be. no posistion on the field should be secure. keeps up improvement in the side.

[James]

its not a makeshift side anymore dave.
taking injuries into account, mitch should still be spoilt for choice next week.
which is how it should be. no posistion on the field should be secure. keeps up improvement in the side.

Yeah thankfully Spanner coming back will soften the blow of losing Cummins and Kieran Longbottom's all-star performance may see AJ coming onto the bench for Pek Cowan.

Giteau's position is pretty secure though

[laura]

Spanner needs surgery to repair a 15mm tear to a ligament in his knee...or so it said in the paper

[GIGS20]

Am I being pissy or is Dave Hughes getting pretty negative towards the these days?

[James]

Spanner needs surgery to repair a 15mm tear to a ligament in his knee...or so it said in the paper

Jeez I didn't think it was that bad. Is Haig Sare coming back at any time or will Dane get a start?

[BLR]

Am I being pissy or is Dave Hughes getting pretty negative towards the these days?

Maybe he is just bitterly dissappointed that we aren't talking about a home semi this time of the year? Two more weeks of work if we made it in

[laura]

Sare did his ankle and was hobling about yesterday. Horua's knee is pooped for a bit too,he had a full length leg brace on it. But they both had a chat in one of the fancy pants boxes last night & seemed ok (according to Dad).

Staniforth didnt seem to be hobbling around. Wykes did his hammy at training. Hockings was out with a shoulder injury from the Reds game.

Cowan's thumb, Cummins' ankle/leg, Fava's ankle/leg took them out of the game. Mitchell's hip looked knackered from that tackle but he played on & seemed fine. Same goes for Takiari's shoulder, he played on.

Hardy's ankle, Whalley, Hilgendorf, Mackay & Wykes I reckon should be the goods to come back in to the side this week. Fardy could make a debut.
O'Connor, Haylett-Petty & Sitaleki should be good for this week too.

We will have a fully capable team of brilliant players again next week!!!

[jono]

i think drew only played on because the bench was used already due to injuries.
he got treatment on his quads/hammies a few times in the match as well.
so i hope its nothing more than a slight strain and he'll be right for next week.


edit:
this week rather.

[laura]

I found the article...

Staniforth screams as knee fails at bad time
DAVE HUGHES
3 May 2008
The West Australian


Western Force centre Scott Staniforth will learn on Monday if he needs surgery which will fix his knee but damage his chances of retaining his place in the Wallabies team.

A scan this week revealed that a microscopic cartilage tear in his left knee with which he started the season had opened to 15mm, sidelining him for tonight’s Super 14 match against the Chiefs at Subiaco Oval and possibly the rest of the season.

If minor surgery is needed, the recuperation period would be only three weeks — but that would include the last two rounds of the regular season in which those aiming to make the Australian team for the winter Tests try to grab the attention of the national selectors.

“I need to be playing now,” admitted a downcast Staniforth, who took his Test tally to 12 during last November’s World Cup in France.

“You want to throw up your hand at this time of the year.”

Staniforth was pencilled in at right wing for tonight’s game but told coach John Mitchell on Thursday he would have to skip the match for which Chiefs coach Ian Foster has probably erased the scouting DVD.

This is a Force line-up quite unlike any other this season. Subiaco Oval becomes the city’s biggest laboratory as Mitchell undertakes a raft of voluntary and forced experiments — Matt Hodgson at No.8, the surreal 9-10-12 combination of James Stannard, Matt Giteau and James O’Connor, and WA products Kieran Longbottom and Dane Haylett-Petty on the bench to send a pointed message to those who haven’t delivered during the team’s barren spell of one win from their past four games.

Tighthead prop Longbottom, 22, is likely to become the first home-grown player to make his Super 14 debut with the Force.

“It’s nerve-racking,” he said. “The excitement is building.”

Longbottom started playing rugby in year eight at All Saints College and has come through the ranks of the Rockingham club.

The Giteau-O’Connor mighty-mite midfield holds considerable fascination. The pair will use their agility and unpredictability to shred the Chiefs’ rush-up defence … or inside centre O’Connor, 17, will get smashed. Imposing Chiefs No. 8 Sione Lauaki will no doubt want a scalp to commemorate his 50th game. Will it be blond?

Foster is more interested in his players continuing to do the same things which have produced five consecutive wins and fourth place on the ladder than second-guessing his old provincial teammate Mitchell, who scored a try when Waikato whipped WA 63-0 at Perry Lakes 16 years ago.

“We don’t know a lot about him (O’Connor) and quite frankly it doesn’t change a lot from our perspective,” Foster said. “We’ll find out what happens on the park. They still have their key troops.”

Indeed they do. But they have a lot of players missing, too, whereas the Chiefs will throw into the attack the likes of in-form fly-half Stephen Donald, Mils Muliaina, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Lelia Masaga and Lauaki.

Last year’s encounter yielded 100 points, 64 of them to the Chiefs. Tonight’s game could be another frantic time for the scoreboard crew.