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The Western Force faces a ‘must win’ match against the Brumbies next Friday to progress in the Asteron Life Super Rugby competition following tonight’s 30-20 win over the Queensland Reds at the ‘Force Field’ (nib Stadium).
The Force responded to last week’s loss to the Blues by running in three tries to claim the club’s sixth win at home for 2014 in front of a vocal 11,762 crowd.
Lock Sam Wykes – who claimed the Haigh & Hastings Man of the Match – and Hugh McMeniman led the Force forwards against an experienced Queensland pack, while centre Chris Tuatara-Morrison proved dangerous, creating several opportunities through the midfield.
Crowd favourite Nick Cummins had a heavy bearing on the match, scoring the Force’s first try and proving ruthless in his kick-chase.
Head Coach Michael Foley said he was pleased with his side’s ability to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointment.
“We had to respond after last week and I thought the guys did a great job of that,” he said. “We were running out of legs at the end of that game but we kept fighting and the guys kept getting up and making tackles. We used almost everybody off our bench and they all had an impact on the game.
“I thought the way we played early was really good. I thought the work at the breakdown was excellent and the speed at which we carried the ball at them was great. There were some unforced errors in the second half, and certainly playing what is effectively a final next week, we’ll need to be better in those areas.
“From an overall perspective, I was just so pleased that the guys went out there and got stuck in there from the start. Certainly as the game progressed, we were looser around a couple of details that we need to be better at.
“Overall, coming out of the three-week break, last week was a scratchy performance, tonight was better and next week has to be better again. That’s the important thing to understand – being a little bit better each week.”
The Reds opened the scoring with a penalty from the radar boot of fullback Mike Harris, who finished with an unblemished record off the kicking tee for the evening.
However, the response was quick from the Force with Cummins first bundling Rod Davies into touch from the restart before crashing over in the corner from a pinpoint Wykes cut-out pass from the base of the ruck.
Hayward’s conversion and penalty goal four minutes later extended the Force lead to 10-3 before Tuatara-Morrison busted through from 40 metres out to then find Hayward, Cummins, and Wykes who linked to put Ben McCalman over the line.
Leading 17-3, a yellow card to Hugh McMeniman gave the Reds a one-man advantage 10 minutes out from half-time, with the Queenslanders capitalising when Samu Kerevi slipped through for his side’s opening try of the night.
A high tackle on Jayden Hayward allowed the Force fullback to extend the lead by three, before replacement front-rower Albert Anae collecting the spoils from the back of a Queensland rolling maul to put his side to within three points at 20-17.
Harris and Hayward exchanged penalty goals in the 69th and 71st minute respectively, before a Brynard Stander charge helped result in Nathan Charles outrunning the converging defence over 40 metres to seal the Force win.
The Force travels to Canberra on Tuesday ahead of their final Asteron Life Super Rugby regular season match against the Brumbies on Friday (11 July).
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