Super Rugby Pacific: Western Force win it late against Brumbies to secure first win in Canberra since 2011

For the second week in a row, Western Force have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, somehow staving off a Brumbies comeback to prevail 45-42 in a roller-coaster game at GIO Stadium. And in doing so, they gave Simon Cron his first away win as coach in his third season at the helm and won their first game in Canberra since 2011. The Force led 21-0 early, but coughed up the advantage as the Brumbies stormed into the lead and with 10 minutes to go, found themselves two men and four points down. But with Jeremy Williams and Nick Champion de Crespigny in the sin-bin — two of four yellow cards they suffered — and the Brumbies parked seemingly permanently in the visitors’ 22, the Force stunning rallied. With five minutes to go, debutant Brandon Paenga-Amosa powered through the Brumbies defence under the posts to finish off an 18-phase move which had shades of their dramatic victory over Moana Pasifika. It was the Force’s first win in the nation’s capital in 5060 days, and the first time in their history they have started the Super Rugby season with back-to-back wins. The visitors flew out of the blocks and after some patient probing, a pair of silky off-loads from Harry Potter and Sio Tomkinson paved the way for Nic Dolly to snaffle a fourth-minute try. It was 14-0 at the 10 minute mark when Andy Muirhead’s dangerous flat pass was gleefully intercepted by Potter, who breezed down home straight to extend the Force’s advantage. Potter went from try-scorer to try-saver as he helped hold up Charlie Cale over the line as the Brumbies overcame their sluggish start to begin to build pressure. And it proved pivotal in the 19th minute when Ben Donaldson’s high, hanging kick landed in-goal and in the lap of an on-rushing Dylan Pietsch and as Donaldson arrowed in the conversion from the tight angle, the visitors had a 21-0 lead. But a questionable yellow card to Pietsch, after he was deemed to have intentionally knocked the ball down as he attempted an intercept, allowed the Brumbies a way back in. The hosts had looked dangerous down the edges, and when Wallabies full-back Tom Wright found space out wide, it allowed him to tee up Muirhead for a much-needed try to cut the deficit. The Force hit back short-handed through Carlo Tizzano’s third try of the season off a rolling maul, before Reed Prinsep was sent to the sin-bin for a no-armed tackle - and the Brumbies took advantage once more, this time through a converted Declan Meredith try. With Prinsep still off-field to begin the second half, the Brumbies responded quickest to a loose ball and Muirhead went down the right edge to allow Cale to cross. The game was level when Judah Saumaisue muscheld over next to the posts as the Force looked a shell of the team who had given the Brumbies fits early. Ben Donaldson’s penalty gave the Force back the lead, before Corey Toole nabbed the Brumbies’ fifth try as his side led 35-31. Pietsch gave the Force a glimmer of hope with 20 minutes to go after a clever line-out routine allowed him to exploit the defence for his second try of the game. But Cale grabbed a second converted try of his own up the other end, and with Williams and Champion de Crespigny off the field, it looked as if the Force had run their race. But after the Brumbies failed to convert and close out the game, the Force ground their way up the field, and Paenga-Amosa overcame some heavy Brumbies resistance to secure an incredible win.