Rugby-Cummins grabs hat-trick of tries as Force pluck Waratahs

April 12 (Reuters) - Cult hero Nick Cummins bagged a hat-trick of tries to fire the Western Force to a dominant 28-16 victory over the New South Wales Waratahs in Perth on Saturday and extend the home side's franchise record win streak to five Super Rugby matches. After crossing for his first try in the 26th minute, frizzy-haired winger Cummins bolted the length of the field to clinch his second from an intercept nine minutes after halftime. The 12-test Wallaby then sent more than 14,000 fans at NIB Stadium into delirium with a third scored on the hour mark from another intercept and thrilling sprint to the line, as the southern hemisphere competition's former whipping boys continued to astonish. The Waratahs controversially lost try-scoring machine Israel Folau before the match when the Australian Rugby Union intervened to withdraw the explosive fullback out of concerns over his recovery from a throat injury. Wallabies utility back Kurtley Beale battled hard in his place, and touched down in the left corner with a brilliant individual try 15 minutes from fulltime, but the Waratahs were unable to rally and fell to 4-3 for the season. (Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)