Force put in a good effort as Hurricanes score 4 tries

The Hurricanes had an explosive start in their match against the Force. Last week they started slow but this time they were on fire from the first minute. By the 5th minute they were 14-0 up.

Their second try did come at a cost though Conrad Smith was stretchered off as he twisted his ankle. Early reports say its broken leg.

The Force received quite a number of penalties in the 1st half and nearly every time they went for the lineout when they could have gone for the posts instead.

In the 30th minute a botched lineout let Jason Eaton run thru the lineout & get over for a try. Gopperth then missed his first conversion of the day.

At half time the Hurricanes led 22-0.

In the second half the Force dominated everything but 20 minutes into the half they had still not come up with any points.

A few times they got over the Hurricanes line but were held up or turned over. The Hurricanes defence was put to the test heavily in the second half and they passed the test.

In the last minute the Force’s Scott Staniforth dived on a loose ball and scored a well-deserved try for the Force.

The Force seems to be getting the basics right and when they do get the other facets of their game together they will actually be a Force. John Mitchell has done well to create the side in a year.

He will however need another season before they can run the top sides close. With nearly 10 penalties being awarded to the Force in the second half they should have come away with a lot more points. The Force only conceded 3 penalties to the Hurricanes 15 in the whole match.

Nearly every stat on the match was won by the Force except the score where the Hurricanes did so well that they got the Bonus point. Anyone looking at the stats alone would not believe that the score were correct.

Scorers

Hurricanes

Tries
Hore
Fa`atau
Eaton 2

Conversions
Gopperth 3

Penalties
Gopperth

Full time Score Hurricanes 29 Force 5

Force

Tries
Staniforth
Conversions
–
Penalties
–

Teams

Hurricanes
1. John Schwalger
2. Andrew Hore
3. Neemia Tialata
4. Paul Tito
5. Jason Eaton
6. Jerry Collins
7. Chris Masoe
8. Rodney So`oialo
9. Piri Weepu
10. Jimmy Gopperth
11. Hosea Gear
12. Ma`a Nonu
13. Conrad Smith
14. Lome Fa`atau
15. Isaia Toeava

16. Luke Mahoney 17. Timothy Fairbrother 18. Luke Andrews 19. Thomas Waldrom 20. Brendan Haami 21. Tamati Ellison 22. Tane Tuipulotu

Force

1. Gareth Hardy
2. Brendan Cannon
3. David Fitter
4. David Pusey
5. Nathan Sharpe
6. Luke Doherty
7. Matthew Hodgson
8. Tim Davidson
9. Matt Henjak
10. Brock James
11. Digby Ioane
12. Junior Pelesasa
13. Scott Staniforth
14. Cameron Shepherd
15 . James Hilgendorf

16. Tai Mcisaac 17. David Te Moana 18. John Welborn 19. Scott Fava 20. Chris O`Young 21. Scott Daruda 22. Haig Sare