April 18 (Reuters) - Coach Tim Sampson credited Domingo Miotti's coolness under pressure for his Western Force's last-gasp 31-30 Super Rugby AU win over the NSW Waratahs after the Argentinian's late penalty kept his team in contention for a place in the finals round.
Miotti slotted his kick between the posts four minutes after the siren had sounded at Perth Oval on Saturday night to earn the Force their third win of the season and maintain their challenge for a third place finish.
"He's a pretty cool and calm dude, and that reflects in his game," said Sampson of Miotti, who scored 16 of the Force's points including a drop goal and the match-winning penalty.
"It just seems he has so much time on the field with the ball in hand.
"He practices a lot and he practices his kicking a lot and not only off the tee tonight, his out of hand kicking was really good and off penalties his kicking into the corner gave us some valuable metres."
With the table-topping Queensland Reds already claiming a berth in the Grand Final and the ACT Brumbies close to sealing second place, the battle for the third spot in the post-season is heating up between the Force and the Melbourne Rebels.
The Force are currently in third, three points ahead of the Rebels, who are due to face the Brumbies on Sunday.
"We're very big on just focusing on ourselves," said captain Kyle Godwin.
"We can't control those external factors and what the Rebels do. Obviously we'll be watching with a keen eye but our main focus is on getting a win next week against the Reds."