Wallabies flyhalf Ben Donaldson showed a clean pair of heels to seal the most unlikely of comebacks for the Western Force over Ardie Savea’s Moana Pasifika.
Trailing by two scores with eight minutes to play, the Force had it all to do against a determined and aligned Moana defence.
Treading water, the home side could not find a chink in the armour of Savea’s men, who held firm for multiple minutes and phases.
Probing with hard carries, the Force quickly got into the twenty-plus phase mark but just simply could not get over the advantage line. This persistence, however, began to tell around the twenty-second phase when a slight gap began to appear.
When the ball found Donaldson on the right-hand side, the flyhalf still had plenty of work to do.
Adding to the impressive nature of the score was the fact that Donaldson suffered a nasty ankle roll earlier in the half, for which he admitted to taking multiple painkillers to overcome.
Clearly, this process worked in the short term as the pacey playmaker hit the jets to race away for the try that brought his side back within a point.
From here, he nudged over the conversion to celebrate the Force’s twentieth season opener in perfect fashion!
The victory ensured that the Force secured all five log points whilst Moana will be gutted to be leaving with just two. It must be said however that Tana Umaga’s side look like a vastly improved outfit this season with Savea leading from the front.
Next up for the Force is a trip to the Brumbies, who became the first Australian team to win in Fiji when they downed the Drua 36 – 32. For Moan,a they remain on the road to face the Reds in Brisbane with Les Kiss’s side playing their first match of the tournament following their return from a Northern Hemisphere tour.
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