Western Force coach Simon Cron was full of praise for the side that battled to exhaustion in their historic, frenetic, first-ever super-point draw in the Round 10 SMARTECH Super Rugby Pacific clash with the Hurricanes at HBF Park on Saturday.
Cron said they showed composure in a chaotic ending to the 17-17 game where the forwards crashed and bashed and the backs were light on their feet.
"It hurts. That's because the boys worked so hard," Cron said in the post-game media conference.
"The boys care about winning. They care about each other. That's why it hurts me.
"I don't have a sister but I feel like I kissed her tonight.
"The only reason for that is because we've got a bunch of boys in that shed who worked their arse off and want to win.
"If you didn't care about winning and didn't care about the game you wouldn't be in this team."
Cron said they would learn about pressure moments from the game as they head to New Zealand on Sunday to face the Chiefs and Blues on consecutive Friday's.
"There's a heap we can learn from the game. What a great opportunity," he said.
"What a great learning...pressure moments. The boys scrambled for each other.
"They cared, they got off the ground, one was cramping and down the other boys covered him.
"There was a lot of really great stuff the boys did.
"The boys really shone, there's a couple of areas we are going to work on. All fixable.
"I'll tell you what you can't do. You can't put a heart in a chest and there was a lot of big hearts in those boys' chests today."
In a compelling ending playmaker Ben Donaldson kicked a penalty to level the scores two minutes from time but could not convert a 51-metre penalty and had a 30-metre drop goal attempt charged down both in super point time.
At the other end the Hurricanes’ fly-half Ruben Love had a chance to snatch the points with an after-the-siren drop kick but the ball hit the left hand post.
The result moved the Force one place up the ladder into fifth, four points inside the top six.
Winger Bayley Kuenzle, on his long-awaited return from injury, scored under the posts to open the Force account and full-back Mac Grealy added a second before the break. Donaldson converted both.
Cron said the multi-phase lead-up to the drop goal attempt could have been better structured.
"We probably lost a bit of shape," he said.
"We ended up with one out runners rather than the forwards to create a better shape.
"It is what it is. We learn. We get better."
Captain Jeremy Williams had never played in an extra-time game, with super point a single 10-minute period, but was impressed with the way the side battled on.
"I actually had no idea. I thought it was two halves. I didn't really know the rules around it," he said.
"The team as a whole, the start of the extra time, we played at the right end of the field, we were really calm to get in those positions.
"A great opportunity to get the team in a pressure moment like extra time.
"For us to experience and learn to get better in those situations...when we face them again we can nail them.
"Great learnings for us moving forward. That's what we'll do, move forward into the New Zealand block."
Cron will be waiting on medical reports on hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa, who had Achilles trouble in the warm-up, prop Marley Pearce who injured a shoulder in the first period and scrum-half Nic White who received a head knock in a second-half tackle.
