VIDEO: Reds edge Sunwolves in spiteful, card-riddled clash
SUPER RUGBY REPORT: The Reds held on against the Sunwolves, to win a spiteful encounter 32-26 in Brisbane on Friday.
It was a match with plenty of nasty undertones, which produced five yellow cards and two red cards – the Sunwolves down to 12 players in the final five minutes.
Even with a two-man advantage – when the Reds were down to 14 men and the Sunwolves down to 12 – the Queensland side was forced to hang on desperately in a bizarre contest.
The Reds will take their win over the Tokyo side, as they stumble to within two points of their Super Rugby conference leaders the Melbourne Rebels.
The hosts may have hung on, but would have infuriated coach Brad Thorn with their decision making and execution given the head start handed to them by the Sunwolves.
Queensland butchered ample chances after both Semisi Masirewa and Masataka Mikami were yellow carded trying to illegally slow the Reds’ charge.
Refusing to probe the edges and exploit the overlap, the Reds instead turned the ball over in two scrums and a driving maul when in perfect field position to trail 8-13 at half-time.
But Masirewa’s second yellow for a marginal high tackle was a gift that left the Sunwolves a man down for the last 30 minutes.
Bryce Hegarty’s calm cross-field kick found Sefa Naivalua for the go-ahead try but that only provided brief respite.
Leading 25-19, a horror pass from an unaware Hamish Stewart found Gerhard van den Heever’s waiting arms to see them go ahead by one.
That still wasn’t the end of it though, with another Reds surge leading to another yellow card for Yu Tamura.
Down to 13 men, they couldn’t stop Brandon Paenga-Amosa from burrowing over, after he had been denied on review from doing similar minutes earlier.
The final chapter of a shambolic match played out when young Reds forward Harry Hockings was red carded for a nasty boot to the head of an opponent and Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco was shown yellow for clinging to his leg in the first place.
Tamura returned for the final seconds of the match as the Reds scraped through to shoot to second on the live conference standings ahead of games against Melbourne and the Waratahs in the next fortnight.
The scorers:
For the Reds:
Tries: Hegarty, Tupou, Naivalu, Paenga-Amosa
Cons: Hegarty 3
Pens: Hegarty 2
For the Sunwolves:
Tries: Van Den Heever 2
Cons: Parker 2
Pens: Parker 4
Yellow cards: Masataka Mikami (Sunwolves, 23), Semisi Masirewa (Sunwolves, 36 & 50), Yu Tamura (Sunwolves, 68), Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco (Sunwolves, 74),
Reds cards: Semisi Masirewa (Sunwolves, 50 – two yellow cards), Harry Hockings (Reds, 75 – foul play, stomping on the head of an opponent)
Teams:
Reds: 15 Hamish Stewart, 14 Jock Campbell, 13 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 12 Samu Kerevi (captain), 11 Sefa Naivalu, 10 Bryce Hegarty, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Liam Wright, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Alex Mafi, 1 Harry Hoopert.
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Harry Hockings, 20 Adam Korczyk, 21 Moses Sorovi, 22 Duncan Paia’aua, 23 Seb Wileman.
Sunwolves: 15 Ryohei Yamanaka, 14 Gerhard Van Den Heever, 13 Jason Emery, 12 Phil Burleigh, 11 Semisi Masirewa, 10 Hayden Parker, 9 Kaito Shigeno, 8 Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco, 7 Kara Pryor, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Luke Thompson, 4 Grant Hattingh, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, Shota Horie, 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Vella, 17 Pauliasi Manu, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Tom Rowe, 20 Ben Gunter, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Jamie Henry.
Referee: Angus Gardner
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe, Damon Murphy
TMO: Ian Smith
Source: AAP
