Reds shut tryless Force down

 

In a match that was almost postponed due to bad weather, the conditions were fairly good and the home side managed to find some light in a dark time with their first win of the season.

 

It had been a tough week for the Reds with Karmichael Hunt embroiled in a narcotics scandal, and they were struck a further blow when James O'Connor failed a pre-match fitness test, with Nick Frisby stepping in to play at fyhalf.

 

The Force were struck an early blow when their South African tighthead prop Francois van Wyk had to leave the field after injuring his shoulder in an early scrum, and it would be the home side to open the scoring as Lachie Turner slotted his first-ever penalty.

 

Turner, who played at fullback in the absence of Hunt, got his second penalty soon afterwards, but the Force were back within three points before long as Sias Ebersohn opened their account with a penalty of his own.

 

The visitors were reduced to 14 men when replacement prop Chris Heiberg was shown a yellow card for repeated infringements at the breakdown, but the force managed to hold out under pressure and drew level when Ebersohn kicked his second penalty on the half-hour mark.

 

However, the Reds would take an 11-6 lead into half-time thanks to a great team try which was sparked by wing Chris Kuridrani who started it all by fielding a kick near his own 22 and finished by Turner.

 

The Reds dominated the start of the second half and camped in the Force 22. After a series of reset scrums they thought they had scored when Chris Feauai-Sautia burst through, but the TMO ruled that the pass he received went forward.

 

However they were finally rewarded when another big scrum saw the referee lose patience with the Force and award a penalty try which gave the Reds a healthy 18-6 advantage.

 

The Force needed to dig deep to give themselves any chance of fighting back, but they continued to be plagued by unforced errors and were left empty-handed at the end of it.

 

Man of the match: All Black flank Adam Thomson made his presence felt on his Reds debut, stealing line-outs balls, making turnovers and putting in some big tackles as well.

 

 

Tries: Turner, penalty try

Con: Turner

Pens: Turner 2

 

Pens: Ebersohn 2

 

Yellow card: Chris Heiberg (Force, 25 mins – Repeated infringements)

 

 

Reds: 15 Lachie Turner, 14 Chris Kuridrani, 13 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Campbell Magnay, 10 Nick Frisby, 9 Will Genia, 8 Jake Schatz, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Adam Thomson, 5 James Horwill, 4 Marco Kotze, 3 Sam Talakai, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 James Slipper (captain).

Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Ben Daley, 18 Sef Faagase, 19 Tom Murday, 20 Curtis Browning, 21 Sam Johnson, 22 Tom Banks, 23 David McDuling.

 

Western Force: 15 Zack Holmes, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Solomoni Rasolea, 11 Marcel Brache, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8  Ben McCalman, 7 Chris Alcock, 6 Angus Cottrell, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Sam Wykes (captain), 3 Tetera Faulkner, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Francois van Wyk.

Replacements: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Chris Heiberg, 18 Oliver Hoskins, 19 Steve Mafi, 20 Brynard Stander, 21 Ian Prior, 22 Luke Burton, 23 Mitchell Scott.

 

Referee: Nick Briant (New Zealand)

Assistant referees: Matt O'Brien (Australia), Damien Mitchelmore (Australia)

TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)