Reds send Force packing
The Reds did Australian rugby's Super 14 semi-final hopes no good by beating the visiting Western Force 29-13 in Brisbane on Friday.
The Reds did Australian rugby's Super 14 semi-final hopes no good by beating the visiting Western Force 29-13 in Brisbane on Friday.
The home side led from start to finish as the Force crumbled in the second-half.
The Reds put their noses out in front within a minute of the kick-off and never looked back.
Number eight Leroy Houston was at the bottom of a pile of Reds forwards who rumbled over the line to give the Force an unwelcome wake-up call.
A battle of the place-kickers ensued and the Reds led the teams into the sheds at half-time, 13-12 up.
The Force would have been scratching their heads as to how they were behind after having nearly 70 per cent of the possession in the first period.
The second-half was a completely different story as the Reds starved their opposition of possession. Sixteen unanswered points in the last 40 minutes earned the home side a deserved victory.
A couple of comments from either side mid-week translated into plenty of niggle on the pitch in the opening stages as the Reds looked a bit out of sorts after their bye last weekend.
After that early try, the Force stepped up their intensity and took control of the game – or should we say took control of the ball.
Despite the Force having almost all the possession and looking the more dangerous side on attack, the Reds kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Clinton Schifcofske and Berrick Barnes were murdering the Force from the kicking tee as the visitors were consistently penalised for joining the rucks from the side and slipping offside in defence.
It was clear the Force were keen to play expansive rugby and full-back Cameron Shepherd often stepped or kicked them into favourable positions.
They couldn't finish off any of their moves however and although Shepherd's almost faultless place-kicking display kept them within a few points of the Reds, one somehow got the feeling it wasn't going to be the Force's night.
After going 7-0 down the team from Perth clawed their way back into contention as the Reds were being penalised for playing the ball on the ground and coming up in defence too early.
When Schifcofske was sent to the sin bin, with the score at 10-9, to pay for his side's repeated infringements it looked like the Force would finally crack the Reds defence as they laid siege to the home side's tryline.
It wasn't to be though, as some sloppy handling saw another golden opportunity for the Force left unconverted.
With Schifcofske absent, Barnes stepped up to put the Force four points adrift after they climbed over the fence instead of coming through the gate. Again.
As the first-half matured the Reds gradually began to create a few chances as they started to find a bit of the rhythm they were lacking early on.
Shepherd slotted his fourth penalty from four attempts to bring to the side in blue just one point adrift at the stroke of half-time.
The fact that the first 40 minutes saw only nine line-outs and a handful of scrums was an indication of how open the game had become.
But, unlike the Chiefs in the day's earlier game, neither team could convert all that space into tries.
The second-half started similarly to the first as the Reds scored a try within a few minutes of coming out of the tunnel.
Ben Lucas sent the ball down the line in what seemed in innocuous move until centre Morgan Turinui handed off Richard Brown to slice through the Force's defensive line and cruise over.
Brown hasn't missed many tackles this season but he would rather forget his effort to try stop Turinui. A try-saving tackle from Ryan Cross on John Roe ten minutes later kept the visitors in contention but the tide had turned.
When Tamaiti Horua was forced to limp of the field just minutes after coming on, the Force were forced into a personnel reshuffle which saw 17-year-old James O'Connor run on as the youngest debutante in Super 14 history and Scott Staniforth packing down at flank!
Staniforth started the season on the wing and was wearing the number 12 jersey today. At this rate we'll see him jumping in the line-out soon!
The Reds had their tails up, and in stark contrast to the first-half, proceeded to hang on the ball. Starved of possession, the Force seemed to have run out of ideas of what to do with the ball when actually got their hands on it.
The absence of Matt Giteau became sorely apparent as in their desperation to score a try of their own the Force's attacking game became a bit ragged.
The acres of space all over the park was like manna from heaven for Reds replacement Andrew Walker who rounded off the win with a try for his new franchise.
Force captain Nathan Sharpe called his team's performance “by far the worst of the season” and with a visit to the rampant Chiefs on the menu for next weekend, their semi-final hopes are fading fast.
Man of the match: Cameron Shepherd was the silver lining on the dark cloud of the Force's showing. But Reds flanker John Roe takes the honours. He was all over the park, causing the Force all kinds of problems at the break-down and even had a couple of attacking runs down the touchline.
Moment of the match: Morgan Turinui's try. Great individual effort.
Villain of the match: No major dust ups – lots of niggle early on but the handbags were held at five paces.
The scorers:
For the Reds:
Tries: Houston, Turinui, Walker
Cons: Schifcofske
Pens: Schifcofske 3, Barnes
For the Force:
Pens: Shepherd 4
Yellow Cards: Schifcofske (19th minute – Reds: Professional foul ), Pocock (72nd minute – Force: off-side)
Reds: 15 Clinton Schifcofske, 14 Brando Va'aulu, 13 Morgan Turinui, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Peter Hynes, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Ben Lucas, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 David Croft, 6 John Roe, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Van Humphries, 3 Dayna Edwards, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Coutts.
Replacements: 16 Sean Hardman, 17 Rodney Blake, 18 Ed O'Donoghue, 19 Poutasi Luafutu, 20 Will Genia, 21 Andrew Walker, 22 Charlie Fetoai.
Western Force: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Haig Sare, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Scott Staniforth, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Lachlan Mackay, 9 Chris O'Young, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fava, 5 Nathan Sharpe (c), 4 Tom Hockings, 3 Troy Takiari, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Luke Holmes, 17 AJ Whalley, 18 Sam Wykes, 19 Tamaiti Horua, 20 James Stannard, 21 James O'Connor, 22 Nick Cummins.
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges: Julian Pritchard (Australia), Simon Moore (Australia)
Television match official: George Ayoub (Australia)
Assessor: Wayne Erickson (Australia)