0
An injury-hit Queensland Reds have sent a dagger through the Western Force's top-four aspirations with a commanding 29-12 triumph at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
The Reds, minus the likes of Greg Holmes, Chris Latham and skipper Sam Cordingley through injury, led 13-12 at half-time and secured their third win of the season with the only two tries of the second half.
Queensland registered three tries for the night to fall just short of the bonus point, while the boot of Cameron Shepherd delivered all 12 of the Force's points - the second straight match the Force have failed to register a try.
The Force, who struggled without the level-headed guidance of star playmaker Matt Giteau, could find themselves as much as three points adrift of fourth spot by round's end and must win their remaining three matches to have any chance of snaring a Super 14 semi-finals berth.
The Reds made a blistering start to the contest, taking less than two minutes to register the first try of the match.
From a 10m line-out, the Reds' forward pack bullocked their way forward to help No.8 Leroy Houston crash over the line, with the video referee confirming the five-pointer.
Fullback Clinton Schifcofske made no mistake with the conversion but the Force were on the board three minutes later through a Shepherd penalty kick.
Schifcofske nailed a penalty from point-blank range to give the Bulls a 10-3 advantage, but two more penalties to Shepherd - the second of which saw Schifcofske sent to the sin-bin for playing the ball off his feet while the Force were in a try-scoring position - saw the home side close the gap to 10-9.
But despite dominating possession the Force failed to capitalise on the numerical advantage, with the Reds heading to the break with a slender 13-12 advantage.
That became 16-12 two minutes after the restart courtesy another penalty to Schifcofske but the game was ripped wide open when the fleet-footed Morgan Turinui produced a try out of nothing in the 46th minute.
Queensland struggled to gain territory before Turinui shrugged off a weak Richard Brown tackle and sprinted 35m to the line to give the home side a handy 21-12 lead.
The Reds could smell victory and went in for the kill thereafter, but Ryan Cross produced two fantastic try-saving tackles - both on John Roe - to deny the Reds the killer blow.
But with Queensland completely controlling all facets of the game the tiring Force finally crumbled, with David Pocock's yellow card and yet another Schifcofske penalty ending the visitors' bid for victory.
Veteran Andrew Walker then rubbed salt into the Force's wounds with a try in the 76th minute, with only some desperate Force defence on the siren denying the Reds a fourth try and a bonus point.
Queensland Reds 29
Tries: Houston 1, Turinui 1, Walker 1
Conversions: Schifcofske 1
Penalties: Schifcofske 3, Barnes 1
Western Force 12
Tries: Nil
Conversions: Nil
Penalties: Shepherd 4
Reds triumph over Force
Justin Chadwick
Sportal
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by laura
but its an easy way out for the other team and limits our points. Maybe they are too scared of us...a force to be reckoned with.
to be reckoned with.