Mataele Stars in Force Upset Win
Flying Fijians winger Manasa Mataele scored a try for Western Force as they beat Highlanders 30-17 in their Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific clash at the HBF Park in Perth, Australia, on Saturday night.
The Fijian was a star also making try saving tackling.
In an earlier interview Mataele said he was excited in the direction the Force were heading under new coach Simon Cron, and it vindicated his decision to take a leap of faith in joining the club.
“Where this team is heading and the coaches and the vision they have for the team and the organisation moving forward, that was a solid reason I signed for the Force,” he said.
“We’re a bit of an underdog team, but I love a challenge and that was the whole reason I came over, to challenge myself and see what I’m capable of.
“This is me stepping out of my comfort zone and putting myself out there and trying to be the leader I know that I am.”
The Force maintained their 100 per cent record at HBF Park and kept their Super Rugby Pacific finals hopes alive. After a dominant first-half, the Force saw off a 20-minute siege from the Highlanders after the break to remain undefeated at home in 2023.
The Force led 24-3 at half-time off the back of three tries, and despite giving up an unanswered 14 points to start the second-half, were able to comfortably see out the final quarter of an hour.
However, they will be worried after Wanneroo product Ollie Callan was stretchered off with a suspected neck injury less than a minute into the game and taken to the hospital after the game.
“We’re worried about him, the doctor came up to me straightaway in the sheds and said we haven’t heard anything yet, so we’ll follow up on that immediately and make sure he’s okay,” Force coach Cron said.
“We love our boys and you care for them and it’s hard when they get hurt. Seeing Ollie go down so early, us in the coaches boxes, there was genuine concern.
“You could see it from the playing group, and then it’s hard because the players need to put their head back in the game and stay where their feet are and do their job.” After a series of slow starts this season, the Force bolted out of the gates and opened the scoring five minutes in when Toni Pulu skipped through the defence and slipped in
Bryce Hegarty to dance through for a converted try.
Hegarty added a penalty to make it 10-0 soon after before the Force lost Pulu to a head knock and Sam Gilbert’s penalty reduced the deficit.
Ill-discipline cost the visitors dear, as Pari Pari Parkinson and Ethan De Groot were both yellow carded around the 20-minute mark for in
fringements close to their own goalline.
However, despite an onslaught of set-pieces, the Force struggled to make their two-man advantage count until Mataele burst through after some slick interplay by Rahboni
Vosayaco, Chase Tiatia and George Poolman to score a try in his 50th Super Rugby game.
The Force continued to dominate and were awarded a penalty try to make it 24-3 after Marino MikaeleTu’u was sin-binned for preventing a certain five points.
Hamish Stewart was then yellow carded for a similar action up the other end for the Force on the stroke of half-time, but the Highlanders squandered a chance to strike back when Gilbert knocked on with the line at his mercy.
The visitors came out all guns blazing after half-time and hit back minutes after the break through a
Connor Garden-Bachop try in the corner. Control of the game shifted to the Highlanders as the Force struggled to get their hands on the ball and were guilty of discipline issues, with hooker Tom Horton yellow carded.
Mataele made a sensational tackle to haul down Shannon Frizell over the try-line and the television match official ruled the flanker did not ground the ball, but Andrew Makalio did score a converted try from a rolling maul a few minutes later to make it 24-17.
Another two Hegarty penalties sealed the win.