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SYDNEY - There were few gripes from Hurricanes captain Tana Umaga despite watching his team sink to an agonising 17-18 loss to the Western Force in a Super 14 thriller in Perth early today (NZT).
Umaga watched helplessly from the sideline as Force goalkicker Cameron Shepherd nailed the conversion of his own injury time try from the left-hand touchline to spark delirious scenes at Subiaco Oval.
It was the John Mitchell-coached Force's first win at home in their two seasons of Super 14 rugby.
For the Hurricanes it was a second successive loss as they head to South Africa to play the unbeaten Sharks in Durban and the Lions in Johannesburg.
But Umaga couldn't grumble, his team having snatched one-point wins against the Blues and Brumbies this season.
"That's what happens. Just to see the expressions on this crowd, that was amazing. Cameron Shepherd, the pressure was on him and he fronted," Umaga told Fox Sports.
"The wind actually picked up when he was setting up for the kick and I thought we might be in for a bit of luck here. But he showed his class and came through. "
The Hurricanes looked to have the match won when replacement first five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth swivelled over to score three minutes from fulltime, and converted to make it 17-11.
It was a controversial try with replays showing Gopperth lost the ball but South African referee Mark Lawrence didn't call for the television match official.
The Force raced onto attack and after several phases Shepherd was one-on-one with hard-working Hurricanes lock Paul Tito and crashed over in the corner.
"I don't know what to say. It's so many games in the making, we've come so close and to get a try like that in the dying moments it's just a great feeling," Shepherd said.
"Before the kick Sharpie (captain Nathan Sharpe) said 'just hit it pure, no matter what happens we'll love you'. I hit it nicely, I knew it was over and it was just relief more than anything. "
The Hurricanes are now in a mid-table logjam as they travel to South Africa with their bevy of resting All Blacks still two weeks away from returning. The Force and the Hurricanes now both have three wins from six this season.
"Both sides tried to play an expansive game and I'm sure both sides would be very unhappy with the amount of errors. We've got things to work on and it's disappointing for us," Umaga said.
"We're going to South Africa now and we've got to get over it and move on. It doesn't get any easier but that's the nature of this competition."
Umaga's fitness could also be an issue after he left the field in the 52nd minute with what appeared a recurrence of his achilles tendon injury.
The Hurricanes led 7-5 after a dour first half where big defence, handling errors and turnovers dominated.
Force fullback Drew Mitchell darted through some confused defence from Cory Jane and Hosea Gear to open the scoring in the fourth minute but Umaga edged the Hurricanes back in front in the 36th when he scrambled 5m to score.
Professional fouls from Luke Andrews, who was sin binned, and Conrad Smith handed Shepherd two penalties to give the Force an 11-10 lead which they took into the tense final five minutes.
Western Force 18 (Drew Mitchell, Cameron Shepherd tries; Shepherd 2 pen, con)
Hurricanes 17 (Tana Umaga, Jimmy Gopperth tries; Blair Stewart pen, con, Gopperth con). Halftime: 5-7.
- NZPA
