A stunning three-try effort by Nick Cummins has seen the Western Force stun the Israel Folau-less NSW Waratahs with a 28-16 victory at Perth’s nib Stadium on Saturday night.
The Force continue to make history in a surprise run this Super Rugby season after losing the opening two games.
They have now won five straight matches; Saturday night’s victory over the Waratahs in Perth their first over the NSW side and in front of a much-improved crowd of 14,281.
The win sees them jump into second spot in the Australian conference.
Despite coming into the game on the high of beating the Stormers in Cape Town, the Waratahs were rocked on Friday when the ARU decided to pull star back Folau from the team despite already being cleared by their own medical staff to return from a throat injury.
The Waratahs got the game’s first score through a penalty just inside halfway from Kurtley Beale in the ninth minute, repeating the dose to make it 6-0 just two minutes later.
After the Force steadied through a penalty, Cummins intercepted a pass from Nick Phipps and ran almost the length of the field to score a try to the delight of the screaming home fans.
Sias Ebersohn converted for the Force to lead 10-6 after 27 minutes and then the two teams traded penalties with the home side leading 13-9 at halftime.
Early in the second half a try was initially awarded to the Waratahs’ right winger Cam Crawford but was ultimately denied when it was ruled that his teammate Jono Lance had obstructed the Force’s Alby Mathewson from making a tackle.
If the Waratahs were disappointed in that, they were even more so just minutes later when Cummins crossed for his second try of the night.
Mathewson did some great work setting up Cummins who then got the glory by crossing out wide.
The Force had lost Sam Wykes (shoulder) and Mathewson (shin) by the 55-minute mark with the Waratahs pressing, but another stunning effort from Cummins closed the door on them.
The Waratahs answered right back with a try in the corner to Beale and the Bernard Foley conversion cut the Force’s lead to 25-16, but that was as close as they would get.
More to come
