Giteau's boot denies Crusaders
A superb performance from Matt Giteau nabbed his side a 23-23 draw against the Crusaders at AMI Stadium on Saturday.
Last Updated: 14/03/09 11:48am
A superb performance from Matt Giteau earned Western Force a 23-23 draw against the Crusaders at AMI Stadium on Saturday.
With the pack ruling the loose and Stephen Brett imperious with the ball in hand, the home side ran in three terrific tries in the first half to put the game seemingly out of reach of the visitors.
But another masterclass from Wallabies fly-half Giteau brought the Force back into the game and set up a tense finale.
It was the archetypal game of two halves - two number 10s as well as the periods of time. Brett has had a miserable season at full-back where he is clearly uncomfortable but here he was, reinstated into the front line and running the show for the hosts.
Then came the second half, and Giteau, always stepping, always running, always with an extra trick up his sleeve. His side was 23-9 down but two moments of genius and two super goal-kicks restored parity to proceedings.
Theory is that Brett will one day be the All Blacks' pivot, in which case we had a future Australia v New Zealand fly-half clash here. Going on this basis, exciting times are ahead for whichever city is lucky enough to get the wandering Bledisloe match.
Nonchalance
We had the Crusaders of old in the first half. The ball was shifted from left to right with nonchalance, forward intermingling with backs and offloading or passing with panache and precision. The Force couldn't get a look-in despite Giteau and co's best efforts.
Three penalties were won in the opening 10 minutes, all for offside as the retreating Force defence failed to cope with the forward movement of the Crusaders' attack.
Brett missed two, but nailed the third from 40 metres. Giteau responded in kind a minute later after an offside for the Crusaders, but then came a blitz.
Isaac Ross scored the first try, with Brett's pinpoint passing creating ample space for his attackers to create go-forward ball twice on the right and then swinging it back left, where Ross and two other forwards created a five on two overlap.
The second try three minutes later came as a result of Brett's quick thinking, as his forwards pinched a line-out and the Kiwi's grubber through towards a goalpost had Drew Mitchell at sixes and sevens. Tim Bateman picked up the loose ball and crashed over under the sticks. Brett made it 15-3 with the extras.
Giteau responded with a penalty but the Crusaders were irrepressible. Brett scythed through the Force defence at one point to remind us all that he was the apprentice to Dan Carter's sorcery for a couple of years.
The third try was the best of the lot, going through 10 pairs of hands and two rucks before Ryan Crotty once again exploited an overlap on the left to score in the corner. Brett again couldn't find his range - his profligacy ended up being more costly than it looked.
Mesmerising
The second half was different, very different. The Force forwards nudged a little harder, the defence pressed a little further up. Giteau's stepping started to take him further through the half-gaps and with more support. The visitors just raised themselves a little.
Giteau reduced the arrears to 20-9 with a penalty, but Brett restored the 14-point lead five minutes later.
Then Giteau took the ball off the back of a line-out and produced a mesmerising run, outside, inside and outside again before flipping a long floated pass out to Haig Sare, whose toughest job at the finish was making sure he didn't overbalance into touch.
Giteau landed a wonderful touchline conversion to bring the Force to within seven.
Twice the Crusaders could have regained their two-score lead. Crotty threw a grotty pass to ruin a three-man overlap, then Colin Slade was thumped into touch by Mitchell as he raced for the corner, a magnificent tackle.
Leon MacDonald was sin-binned for a mid-air tackle on James O'Connor and the youngster got his revenge five minutes later as the All Black watched on helplessly, when Giteau stepped inside a defender and popped an inside offload perfectly for O'Connor to scamper through.
Giteau levelled the scores with the conversion - five from five for him, three from six for Brett. A telling statistic: the youngster is still a finishing touch short of the real deal.
