Rampant Hurricanes thump Force
Western Force coach John Mitchell blamed a series of missed tackles for his team's demoralising 47-22 Super 14 defeat to the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday.
Hurricanes winger Tamati Ellison set up three tries and fellow speedster David Smith scored a brace as the home side ran in seven tries to three to secure the bonus-point victory.
The Force, missing a host of key players including David Pocock, Richard Brown, Ryan Cross, Cameron Shepherd and Mark Bartholomeusz, looked promising at times during the opening half but were let down by poor tackling, which Mitchell believes gifted the Hurricanes up to five of their tries.
"The disappointing part of the performance was the five tries we conceded through one-on-one missed tackles," Mitchell said.
"It's unacceptable, we cannot build pressure when you let them off the hook so easily.
"It's an individual thing. It will need to be addressed.
"With young men at the moment within the group they are going to have to learn quickly.
"It's our mates and the only mates we've got, we've got no one else so it will all need to be addressed individually.
"Experience is only worthwhile if you learn quickly.
"You get to a stage where you're sick of learning and you want to see improvement."
Inside centre Josh Tatupu, winger Dane Haylett-Petty and substitute halfback Chris O'Young scored tries for the Force.
But it wasn't nearly enough as fullback Cory Jane, prop Neemia Tialata, flanker Michael Paterson, centre Ma'a Nonu and substitute Tyson Keats complemented Smith's brace as the Hurricanes ran away with the match.
The loss leaves the Force languishing near the foot of the table following last week's defeat to the Brumbies, while the Hurricanes have two wins from as many outings.
"It's been a tough night but the positive is we introduced Stefano Hunt, Joelin Rapana and Luke Jones to first-class rugby tonight and two of those boys are only 18 years of age," Mitchell said.
"Ryan Tyrrell also had his first cap.
"So there's a number of positives in terms of growing younger players within the group as a result of the injuries."
Jane posted the first try of the match in the 15th minute following a wonderful break from Nonu and a perfectly-weighted grubber kick from Ellison.
And the Force were down 18-3 after 24 minutes when another beautiful grubber kick from Ellison, after breaking through Tatupu's tackle, found Smith unmarked in the corner.
But in the face of adversity the Force lifted as their powerful forward pack started to create opportunities for the backs.
Haylett-Petty spotted a gap in between Conrad Smith and Nonu to open up the Hurricanes' defence and Tatupu reaped the rewards, touching down in the corner to close the gap to 18-8 in the 27th minute.
The Force trailed by just 13 points (28-15) with 19 minutes remaining when Haylett-Petty crossed and O'Connor converted.
But the Hurricanes once again stamped their authority on the match, with soft tries to Tialata, Nonu and Keats in the final 20 minutes sealing the win.
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