Crusaders beat Force 20-19 with late Jordan Taufua try
Last Updated: 08/04/16 4:05pm
Flanker Jordan Taufua scored a try with two minutes remaining and fly-half Richie Mo'unga kicked the conversion to give the Crusaders a 20-19 win over the Force.
Replacement Ryan Louwrens had given the Force a 19-13 lead following a Crusaders turnover, helping the home side recover from a 13-6 deficit at halftime.
But Taufua barged over after sustained pressure from the Crusaders and Mo'unga slotted the conversion from nearly in front of the posts for the winning points.
Mitchell Drummond and Johnny McNicholl had scored first-half tries for the Crusaders, but the visitors played a mostly listless second half before Taufua's late try.
Crusaders captain Kieran Read was more relieved than elated after the win.
"I don't think it was a good performance to be honest, we made far too many errors," he said.
"Certainly not what we wanted to come here and do, but we'll take the win and get back to the drawing board next week when we get home.
"We're in a good place now in terms of results, but there is a lot of work to do."
Force skipper Matt Hodgson said his side let itself down in the dying minutes.
"The boys played well, but we gave them too many opportunities at the end," he said.
"They are a quality side and they took them - we gave them that many opportunities in our 22 in that last 10 minutes and they are going to come up with a result."