Rugby-Force victory tempered by Mathewson citing for foul play

March 23 (Reuters) - Western Force caused the upset of the early Super Rugby season by beating twice champions Waikato Chiefs on Saturday, but their celebrations have been tempered by news Alby Mathewson has been cited for foul play. The four-test All Blacks scrumhalf was cited by ruling body SANZAR after they reviewed an incident in the third minute of the Force's 18-15 victory in Perth in which Mathewson is alleged to have stamped or trampled on Chiefs flanker Sam Cane. Referee Lourens van der Merwe penalised Mathewson at the time but SANZAR's citing commissioner decided on Sunday the offence had met the threshold for a red card. Mathewson's disciplinary hearing put a dampener on the Force's celebrations after they recorded their third successive win, courtesy of two tries from captain Matt Hodgson. The Perth-based side's victory was built on superb defence and they will have the chance to equal their best winning streak of four games when they face Queensland Reds on April 5. "We've only had three wins but if you bottle some of the great stuff out of the last three weeks, we could go on to have a good season," head coach Michael Foley said in a statement. "But we haven't had that good season yet." While Force are in seventh place, equal on 14 points with the sixth-placed Bulls, Foley is right to keep his hopes in check after just five games of the season. Force have struggled to impose themselves on the competition since they joined in 2006. Their highest finish was seventh in 2007 when they won six games, while they have finished no higher than 12th in the last four seasons. Their 2014 season began terribly with heavy defeats at the hands of New South Wales Waratahs and ACT Brumbies - the two best sides in the Australian conference. The last three games, however, have shown how much the team have improved. They hammered Melbourne in Hodgson's 100th game for the side two weeks ago when they raced out to a 32-0 lead and held it until the final minute when the Rebels scored a consolation try. Last week in Dunedin they were reduced to 13-men for the final 10 minutes against the Otago Highlanders and managed to hold them off until almost fulltime when flyhalf Hayden Parker scored in the corner. Parker's conversion, however, struck the upright and gave the visitors a 31-29 victory. On Saturday in Perth, playing against an unbeaten Chiefs side that were widely expected to run roughshod over the West Australians, they stifled any attacking intent from the New Zealand team with a bruising defence. Such was their ability to snuff out the attack, the only points the Chiefs received was five penalty goals from the boots of Aaron Cruden (four) and Gareth Anscombe, and Foley felt the display was evidence they had moved on. "Last year we had a lot of good performances but probably couldn't quite close things out," Foley added. "Maybe some of those difficult moments like that last 20 minutes, last year we didn't believe enough. "(But) the guys have put in that much more hard work to get to those points in a game to really believe they can finish over the top of opposition. "I am absolutely thrilled for the blokes." (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Peter Rutherford)