Great win, now I just have to get home and watch the game!
I read a piece in The West that gives our side of the win and not the Reds losing like all other stories things I've seen and a nice story on Ru in The Sunday Times but I can't find them online.
Anyone seen them anywhere?
And yes I am one of those odd people that still read newspapers!
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Super Rugby: Gritty Force leave Queenslanders red-faced
Western Force’s Luke Burton makes a break.
The Australian12:00AM May 27, 2017
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WAYNE SMITH
Senior sport writerBrisbane
@WayneKeithSmith
An inspired, well-coached Western Force side embarrassed a clueless Queensland Reds at Suncorp Stadium last night, scoring 40 points on the road for only the third time in their Super Rugby history.
How the Australian Rugby Union can cut this spirited, determined team from Perth remains a staggering mystery. They now have overtaken the Reds in the Australian conference and with three home matches still to come, who is to say they will not emerge as the one Australian team to play in the finals?
Certainly it won’t be the Reds — and nor should it be. On paper, they should have blitzed the Force. Instead, they underestimated them yet again, squandering chances left and right and meekly conceding the gain line throughout. This may have been the nadir of a spectacularly poor season.
The Force, by contrast, had heroes not just on the pitch — especially five-eighth Peter Grant who kicked seven from seven, centres Billy Meakes and Curtis Rona and lock Adam Coleman — but also up in the coaches box, where head coach Dave Wessels read the play brilliantly by stacking his bench with finishers like Tatafu Polota-Nau and Richard Hardwick who played all over their Queensland counterparts in the 40-26 win.
Wessels typically shrugged off the praise. It wasn’t the win, as such that pleased him but the fact that the Force, having travelled around the world in the past two weeks, had then shrugged off a 55-6 thrashing by the Highlanders to defeat a supposedly desperate team playing at home and coming off a bye.
Queensland coach Nick Stiles was distraught. “I’m filthy, mate, simple as that,” he said. “We can’t sustain 80 minutes of football. We’re happy to do things in spurts and patches and that doesn’t win you football games. You have to have a desire to compete for 80 minutes and be ruthless for 80 minutes.”
Three penalties for high tackles, two yellow cards, their 12th of the season, a record for Super Rugby, illustrated how little effort the Reds were prepared to put in. Small wonder Stiles was disgusted with his side
The Reds had convinced themselves before the match that they would not disrespect the Force but then the worst possible thing happened — they scored within five minutes of the kick-off. But instead of Duncan Paia’aua’s try spurring them on, the Reds thought it would all come without them doing the hard yards.
The Force, meanwhile, were taking their chances at every turn. On their first two visits to the Reds’ quarter, they came away with points, as Grant punished flimsy headhigh tackles with penalty goals. At 6-5, the Force probably were surprised to find themselves in the lead. So imagine their shock when they went into the break 13-5 ahead after passive Reds defence saw number eight Isi Naisarani make huge inroad into the 22 before lock Ross Haylett-Petty was able to plunge over for his first Super Rugby try.
Nick Frisby, who had botched a first half try by running too upright and getting held up, made partial amends when he kick-started the second half by triggering a brilliant try as he split the defence on kick return, linked with Cooper who ducked under a head high tackle to put lock Lucan Tui over for a try.
But scarcely had the Wallabies halfback redeemed himself than he was back in the villain’s book, lying on the ground and kicking the ball out of Ruru’s hands as he dived over the top of the ruck to catch the Reds napping on their own tryline. The result — a penalty try and a trip to the sin bin.
Another Grant penalty goal pushed the Force out to a 23-12 lead but the Reds fought back with two crucial but unadventurous driving maul tries from lineouts.
The Force, however, didn’t deserve to lose this match, not when they had shown such spirit. But how they rubbed in their superiority, Coleman riling his Test captain Stephen Moore with a jibe before the Force crashed through flimsy defence for two final tries.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-u...-ng-b88489132z
This one?
Gotta feel for the Reds supporter in the photo. Have left NIB feeling like he looks more than once.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Nope they were written by Nick Taylor. As I said they had a Force take not a Reds
Like these:
And
Etc
The long sobs of autumn's violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor
yeah - for someone who puts so much in, i always wanted him to perform better.
I dont think he made a mistake at all last night, and got some pie!
Marcel reminds me of that movie Rudy.
Generally speaking you aren’t learning much if your lips are moving!!!
To be expected I suppose, but this week's SMH honour roll sees 6 Force men and a lone Tah - Izzy of course.
Team of the Week
1. Ben Alexander (Brumbies)
2. Josh Mann-Rea (Brumbies)
3. Allan Alaalatoa (Brumbies)
4. Rory Arnold (Brumbies)
5. Adam Coleman (Force)
6. Ross Haylett-Petty (Force)
7. Sean McMahon (Rebels)
8. Amanaki Mafi (Rebels)
9. Michael Ruru (Force)
10. Peter Grant (Force)
11. Marika Koroibete (Rebels)
12. Billy Meakes (Force)
13. Curtis Rona (Force)
14. Henry Speight (Brumbies)
15. Israel Folau (Waratahs)
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
He also did very well under the high ball. Very good performance indeed.
Shasta you are correct on your NFL assessment. The league works hard for parity (eg Salary cap, Reverse order drafts, Free Agent compensations, etc). Yet sometimes there are very strong divisions for a few years and very weak ones. A couple of years ago, the Seattle Seahawks made the playoff (ie finals) with a losing record (like the Australian team will do this year). There was outrage for a while, but that was silenced when they won their first round match.
Got to accept some statistcal anomolies...see 2014 champions
The long sobs of autumn's violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor
For a laugh Here is the Roar best 15....check out the 9 lol
1. Toby Smith (Rebels)
It wasn’t a great night for the Rebels who were up against it having to face the undefeated Crusaders but it wasn’t all bad as they went down in 19-41 in Melbourne.
Smith provided one of those moments when he reached out those long arms to plant the ball over the line early in the second half to give his side some kind of hope. He was fairly consistent throughout the rest of the game and showed off his power in tight to the ruck
2. Josh Mann-Rae (Brumbies)
I’ll save you all the pain by not putting Stephen Moore in this spot once again despite bagging a couple of meat pies. While Moore was the beneficiary of a couple of strong mauls, Mann-Rae had a much stronger game overall.
He led the Brumbies scrum in a strong night over the Jaguares pack as well as driving over the advantage line consistently with ball in hand while defending well on the fringes of the breakdown. A tough hookers performance all round.
3. Alan Ala’alatoa (Brumbies)
In the same boat as Mann-Rae, Ala’alatoa was powerful in the scrum, but shone through up the guts of the field when taking on the line.
His ability to break off the first tackle when running opened up a host of offload opportunities and extra metres through the centre as the Brumbies were driving forward.
4. Matt Philip (Force)
A strong game in the lineout, Philip was raking in the throws and the running metres despite a few shaky moments in the first half.
He didn’t blow everyone away this week, but it was a workhorse performance, one that came through the breakdown and in support more than in the highlight reel.
5. Adam Coleman (Force)
Coleman linked up quite well in partnership with Philip, creating a damaging a deadly lock combination that the Reds struggled to contain for the most part.
Coleman was arguably the stronger of the two in terms of running game, throwing himself around all over the place seemingly coming from everywhere to take a run when they needed momentum to keep rolling.
6. Ross Haylett-Petty (Force)
Completing the Force trio through the middle of the pack, the much taller Haylett-Petty brother continued the form of the previous two entries, keeping the Reds defence on the back foot in the second half.
He did score their first try of the game to rebound from a slow start, but his overall game was a powerhouse performance and he helped turn the game late to take the win.
7. George Smith (Reds)
The Smith renaissance continues as the veteran shows why he is still one of the best in Australian rugby amidst a struggling year for the sport in this country.
Not only was he at his pilfering best, but for a small player, he shows so much intelligence with ball in hand, running smart and into the spaces that create the most opportunity.
His offloading game as well was on show on a few occasions throughout the game.
8. Amanaki Mafi (Rebels)
He’s nearly a shoe-in every week now as the Japanese international continues his stellar season for the Melbourne outfit.
Probably the performance of the round, he doubled the running metres of any other Rebel player and was outdone by just one Crusader despite letting in 41 points to 19.
He was racking up line breaks and tackle busts nearly every time he touched the ball, averaging double figures for metres made on every single carry.
9. Nick Frisby (Reds)
While he may not have got everyone’s vote, or the match result for that matter, Frisby had his best game of the season this week for mine, and this is my list, so I can add him if I like.
He made the most running metres of anyone in the game across both sides, leading to a line break and try assist early in the second half. His vision at the back of the ruck led him to slipping through five missed tackles and creating forward chances for his side.
10. Jackson Garden-Bachop (Rebels)
Garden-Bachop’s running game really helped his game against the Crusaders this week, making up for a few little errors with some blistering aggression at the line.
He was able to poke his head through the line on a few occasions, breaking tackles and showing no fear in throwing the dummy and looking to take advantage of some tired big men late in the game.
11. Aidan Toua (Brumbies)
Marika Koroibete is the second man to score two tries and not make the side this week, but the former NRL winger suffers from a two-moment game. Aidan Toua takes it from the Brumbies.
A few linebreaks and some blistering speed down the sideline helped him tear up the Jaguares fringe defence out wide as he racked up the running metres.
12. Reece Hodge (Rebels)
In a generally tough night coming up against the top team in Super Rugby, Reece Hodge showed some signs of form that has been absent in recent times for the centre.
He played more of a supporting role in this one, playing provider for a number of line breaks throughout the game and drawing the defence in to create room out wide. He was no slouch when he decided to take on the line either.
13. Tevita Kuridrani (Brumbies)
Kuridrani has been pulling out some big performances as of late and continues his run this week as the Brumbies pushed away the Jaguares away from home.
More distance than anyone else, being the only man to hit triple figures for running metres, Kuridrani proved difficult to bring down as he danced into the backfield on more than once occasion
14. Henry Speight (Brumbies)
Speight reaped the benefits of Kuridrani and one other that will be mentioned on his inside, breaking tackles and the line a few times, creating and executing offload and second play opportunities.
His try in the second half was nothing spectacular but it was a key moment to push that lead out for the Brumbies and take the game away from the Jaguares.
15. Tom Banks (Brumbies)
Third time lucky for the brace-scorers this weekend as Tom Banks completes the Brumbies back three sweep.
His two tries within about four minutes took the Brumbies up to and then past the Jags in the first half, one with a nice bit of pace and footwork, then the other with a peach of a pick up in the corner.
The long sobs of autumn's violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor
Comments from (I suspect) a Reds fan after the Australain article....
$7m a year for the Reds, $3.7m for the Force.....looking at the swathe of good young players emerging from the Force I know which is good value to the ARU.
Time to rethink the strategy ARU , and time to admit you stuffed it. The imbalance in funding is ridiculous, even the Waratahs at $7m are only a dubious couple of points away from the Force, and should really have lost their first game to the Force if strange penalties had not been awarded in their favour.
Time to stop the waste on high salaries for old players, time to stop the waste of high salaries and expenses for administrators and jolly junkets. lets put the money into development in WA, Victoria where both sides are proving they can grow players, and attract good coaching, Wessels in particular.
The Force have a lot of support around the country, and even more so now after the way the boys played on Friday noght.
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