The Western Force have jumped to fourth spot on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder after coming from behind to post a 29-20 bonus-point win over the Highlanders in Perth.
The Force trailed 20-7 in the 27th minute of Saturday night’s match at HBF Park before piling on the next 22 points to seal the five-tries-to-two win.
The win catapulted the Force (4-4) from eighth to fourth heading into their bye week.
The Highlanders (2-5) are in ninth following their fourth straight defeat.
In-form Force flanker Carlo Tizzano was immense, scoring his 11th try of the season in the first half, and then pulling off a last-gasp turnover at the death to deny the Highlanders a try that would have robbed the home side of a valuable bonus point.
But it wasn’t all good news for the Force, who lost Dylan Pietsch in just the seventh minute after the Wallabies winger appeared to re-injure his heavily-strapped left knee.
Tizzano opened the Force’s account in the 14th minute when he crashed over from a rolling maul, but the home side’s lead was short lived.
Highlanders winger Jona Nareki hit back three minutes later when he bounced away from two tacklers to cross over and fullback Sam Gilbert added another try as the visitors’ lead ballooned out to 13 points by the 27th minute.
The Force had looked off their game up until that point.
But when hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa crashed over from a rolling maul in the 37th minute and then fullback Mac Grealy touched down after the half-time siren, the Force trailed by just one point.
A big turning point came in the 45th minute when Force winger Harry Potter busted over for a try with the home side trailing 20-19.
As Potter went over, Highlanders No.8 Sean Withy slid in knees first and collected the Force winger in the head.
Potter went off for a HIA assessment, while Withy was given a yellow card, which was soon upgraded to a red.
It meant the Highlanders were reduced to 14 men for the next 20 minutes and the Force extended their lead to 29-20 when substitute George Poolman went over following a slicing run from Max Burey.
Force centre Sio Tomkinson was yellow carded three minutes later after tipping his opponent off the ball, but the Highlanders briefly went down to 13 men when Nareki was sent off for his team’s repeated penalties.
The final siren sparked big celebrations amongst Force players, while the Highlanders were left to rue going scoreless for 53 minutes.
