Tahs win as ref angers Perth crowd

Drew Mitchell © Getty images

South African referee Jaco Peyper was not the most popular man in Perth on Saturday as the Waratahs beat the Force 14-10 in their Super 14 match played at the ME Bank Stadium.

Blow-by-blow scoring

Peyper was loudly booed at the end of a game in which a number of crucial decisions went against the Force and cost them their first victory of the season.

And a win was there for the taking for Nathan Sharpe’s men -- referee or no referee.

The Western Australians might have felt aggrieved at the rulings that went against them but when they study the video it will be abundantly clear that they spoilt a great chance of knocking off their arch-rivals from Sydney by making too many errors and failing to take their chances.

The result left the Waratahs as the front-running Australian side with the Force earning their first bonus point of the season.

In a typically tense derby atmosphere an error-strewn match did not say much for the standard of Aussie rugby as the sides scored a single try apiece -- the prolific Drew Mitchell getting the first for the Waratahs as he chased down a neat grubber by Daniel Halangahu and Scott Staniforth crossing the white line for the Force after intercepting a pass by Berrick Barnes.

Barnes had a most unhappy outing with the boot as well; having kicks charged down and being so off-key with his place-kicks that he had to be replaced by Halangahu.

The Force led 10-8 at the break--– the first time they had managed to be at top at this juncture in five outings -- but succumbed to two penalties in the second period as the Waratahs took advantage of their superior possession and field position.

Referee Peyper incurred the ire of the local crowd after a series of rulings made against the Force while they were hard on attack.

He had pulled them up, for not placing the ball, on the 17th phase right under the Waratahs posts in the first half and in the second half he twice penalised tighthead prop Tim Fairbrother for failing to bind properly when the Force were in the red zone and massing to score.

A series of scrum re-sets from the 75th minute, which obviously didn’t worry the Tahs at all, got the crowd going and from a Force perspective it got even worse when in the last minute Sharpe was pinned for not releasing the ball right on the Tahs’ line, even though it seemed the Waratahs were guilty of not letting go of him, and then again when Halangahu failed to find touch and presented the home-side with one last chance.

A number of Force men won their personal duels with the elite Waratahs -- none more so than Matt Hodgson up against Phil Waugh -- but the win which would have been a marvellous boost ahead of their next match against the high-riding Bulls was not to be.

Scorers were:

Force (10) 10: Try by Scott Staniforth (25 min). James O’Connor kicked a conversion and a penalty.

Waratahs (8) 14: Try by Drew Mitchell (15 min). Berrick Barnes kicked a penalty and Daniel Halangahu two penalties.

Read more on the Super 14 page.

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