Reds (6) 21 / Force (12) 20 (Final Score)
THE Reds broke out of jail in a scrappy Super Rugby opener against the Western Force, thanks to a late try by hooker James Hanson.
Report from Rugby Heaven
The Force left Suncorp Stadium kicking themselves after dominating much of the match with their marauding back row, while whiz-kid playmaker James O’Connor was brilliant at No.10, diving over for a try and booting five penalties to score all of his side’s points.
Gone was the happy-go-lucky back-line play from the Reds, replaced with a sluggish and unsettled effort that will give Ewen McKenzie plenty of spot fires to douse if they are to trouble the Waratahs next week.
”That wasn’t a great performance,” said Reds captain James Horwill, who was his side’s best in his comeback game from knee surgery.
”[I’m] happy that we got the win but we’ve got the Waratahs on Saturday, and we need to improve a fair bit. We probably didn’t play enough possession early in the game, and it didn’t pay off for us.”
The Force will fly back to Perth knowing they could lay claim to being the better team for 90 per cent of the contest. As McKenzie admitted, it was only the result that didn’t fall their way.
O’Connor, the man of the match, was sublime in the No.10 jumper for the Force, and would have thought he’d won the day when he raced 90 metres to score against the run of play deep in the second half.
He missed the conversion, and unfairly blamed himself for the loss, despite kicking five from seven and scoring all of his side’s points. As it was, the try Hanson, the Reds’ replacement hooker, scored with five minutes left was the saving grace for the home side.
Force coach Richard Graham said Queensland should get used to life as a Super Rugby threat. Their strengths and weaknesses had been laid bare.
“Like any new player that comes on the block, any new player that comes into Test cricket, nobody knows a lot about them initially,” Graham said. ”It takes a period of time before you work out their strengths and weaknesses. [After] Queensland’s great year last year, sides are going to go after them.
“There’s no creeping up on anyone this year for Queensland. [But] I do think they’ve got enough armoury in their side to come up with new ways of attacking.”
Scorers:
Reds: 3 Penalties & 1 Convrsion Quade Cooper, 1 Try Saia Faingaa, 1 Try James Hanson
Force: 5 Penalties & 1 Try James O’Connor
Teams:
Reds: 15 Peter Hynes, 14 Rod Davies, 13 Will Chambers, 12 Anthony Faingaa, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Ed Quirk, 6 James Horwill (captain), 5 Van Humphries, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 James Slipper, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Ben Daley.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Greg Holmes, 18 Scott Higginbotham, 19 Beau Robinson, 20 Ben Lucas, 21 Mike Harris, 22 Aidan Toua.
Western Force: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Gene Fairbanks, 11 David Smith, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Brett Sheehan, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Matt Hodgson, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Ben McCalman, 3 Tim Fairbrother, 2 Ben Whittaker, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Kieran Longbottom, 18 Sam Wykes, 19 Tevita Metuisela, 20 James Stannard, 21 Alfie Mafi, 22 Rory Sidey.
Referee: Ian Smith
Assistant referees: Stuart Dickinson, Damien Mitchelmore
TMO: Steve Lesczcynski
Anybody out there watching?
Game started
Quade Cooper lines up from 20m out, on the angle, and he slots the penalty to open the Red’ account – 3-0
5 It’s all pretty scrappy – with Cooper hacking the ball directly into touch.
7 Penalty to the Force as Saia Faingaa goes off his feet at the tackle. James O’Connor levels up the scores at 3-all with the penalty
11 Now Peter Hynes goes offside and James O’Connor is having another shot at goal. He slots the penalty to give the Force the lead – 6-3
15 The Force are putting a lot of pressure on the Reds with their rush defence and the home team is making plenty of errors as a result.
17 Peter Hynes again getting pinged at the breakdown and James O’Connor has another shot at goal. The penalty is good and the Force lead 9-3
20 Still pretty scrappy by both teams. The skills levels look decidedly early season.
23 James O’Connor goes offside and the Reds now have a shot at goal. Quade Cooper nattows the gap to 6-9 as he slots the penalty
Will Chambers knocks ball in the in goal area after a good chip kick by Cooper
25 Will Chambers has an ingoal horror, butchering a certain try. Copper grubbers and all Chambers has to do is flop on the ball, but he somehow manages to spill it – without another player in sight
Sheppard scores, up to TMO
No try held up
34 Cameron Shepherd, who moments earlier had bust the Reds defence open, goes over the line in a tackle and the call goes to the TMO – who rules that it is inconclusive and they go to a 5m scrum.
35 The Reds turn it over in the tackle and Genia hacks it downfield. The Force take it back into their 22 and then kick it into touch. Big gain by the Reds.
More Oom
Jou manne het bietjie gesukkel laasnag daar in JHB…is die Leeus rerig beter, of was julle maar net k*k?
38 Another penalty against the Reds at the breakdown. James O’Connor is having a shot from just over 50m out, but it is wide to the right.
Yellow card for Rod Davies
40 YELLOW CARD – Rod Davies goes to the bin for punching and having a penalty turned around after his team had already been awarded a penalty. James O’Connor has a shot from 50m again and he slots the penalty to give the Force a 12-6 lead at the half-time break. It will be an interesting second 40 minutes. See you in 10 minutes.
Half Time
Namoene tyd
Kenya 69 (23.5 ov)
New Zealand 72/0 (8.0 ov)
New Zealand won by 10 wickets (with 252 balls remaining)
2nd Half started.
Hope it is 100% better than the scrappy afair in the first half.
45 The Force go offside at the tackle and Quade Cooper slots the penalty to narrow the gap to 9-12 – the Reds still a man down
It doesn’t take the Reds long to cough up the ball and then concede a penalty.
We’ve spent another two minutes watching a scrum being reset several times. This is ridiculous. Ending in a free kick because the one prop did not TOUCH
53 Quade Cooper is having a shot from just on 40m out, but it is wide to the left
56 Another penalty against the Reds at the breakdown. James O’Connor is having a shot from 20m out, and he slots the penalty to make it 15-9
Try Reds
64 TRY – Saia Faingaa goes over from a bit of genius at the line-out. A short throw to his prop, who pops it back to him and then he sprints the 20m to the line, almost untouched.Cooper can’t add the extras, but it is game on at 14-15
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