Super Rugby Women: Western Force fall to last-minute defeat to the Waratahs to leave them winless after two

Western Force have let slip a second-half lead to fall to a crushing, last-minute 26-21 defeat to the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium, leaving them winless at the halfway point of their Super Rugby Women season. After falling behind early, the Force hit the front by half-time and extended their lead amid an error-riddled second half, leading by nine points late. But two late tries to Leilani Nathan and Adiana Talakai — the latter of which came in the 80th minute — sunk the Force, leaving them with just a bonus point to show for their efforts. With so much hype around and investment into the Force program entering the season, they have shown glimpses of their ability over the first two weeks, but ultimately will enter their bye with just three points from two games. And with both Queensland Reds and Fijian Drua having won games already this season, the Force will have it all to do just to make the four-team finals. It looked like it might be a long afternoon for the Force when the hosts opened the scoring just four minutes in when Desire Miller evaded three would-be tacklers before shrugging off the contact to give the Waratahs a 5-0 lead. The Force drew the ire of the referee on multiple occasions, shackling their efforts to move up-field, while the Waratahs dominated the breakdown battle and won several turnovers. But the visitors hit the front in the 14th minute when the impressive Ashley Marsters took it upon herself to find the try line as her powerful leg drive saw her shrug off the attention of three defenders to slam the ball down. After Sophie Freeman had knocked over the extras to give her side a 7-5 lead, the Force began to build pressure and sustain phases of possession, and they turned into points when Marsters and Freeman combined to push the Force close to the line and Anneka Stephens dived over the ruck. But the ‘Tahs hit back just before the break when Miller added a second try after a clever reverse pass allowed her to scurry over the line and reduce the deficit to 14-12. Already missing Wallaroos captain Michaela Leonard through injury, the Force lost hooker Hera Barb Malcolm-Heke after the restart after she copped a nasty blow to the forehead. Errors from both teams proliferated the game as the scoring slowed down at the beginning of the second half, with neither side able to take advantage of the other’s mistakes with chaos reigning supreme. But after mistake after mistake from both teams, the Force were the ones to finally take advantage as a powerful rolling maul set up Cecilia Smith for her second try in as many games before Nicole Ledington’s conversion made it a nine-point game. With less than 10 minutes to go, the Force’s ill-discipline was punished as Nathan exploited space in their defensive set-up to score a converted try, bringing the score to 21-19. The visitors were imbued with confidence late and after winning a scrum penalty, kept the ball deep inside the Force territory in the final five minutes. Despite some scrambling Force defence, a rolling maul a few metres out from the line proved too much in the dying embers as Talakai pushed her way over.