Red-hot Force tame the Reds
Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:41
The Western Force will go into their opening Super 14 game against the Brumbies next week with confidence after their impressive 31-12 victory over the Reds in their third and final pre-season warm-up game, played at ME Bank Stadium in Perth on Friday.
The Force started the game strongly, with two converted tries and two penalty goals in the first 20 minutes.
James O'Connor goaled a penalty to open the scoring before Matt Hodgson barged over near the posts in the sixth minute. O'Connor's conversion took the lead to 10-0.
Dominating territory, possession and the penalty count, the Force scored again when Sam Harris burrowed over following brilliant skill from wing Cameron Shepherd. O'Connor converted.
Shepherd added a further three points to the total with a penalty in the 20th minute to make the score 20-0.
The Reds pulled one back when Quade Cooper ghosted through the defence before dabbing an impressively skilful, well-weighted grubber for Rod Davies, who dropped on the ball to score.
A neat move down the left flank allowed the Force to add a third try before the half hour mark, with Richard Brown grabbing a bobbling pass to dot down in the corner. The Force led 25-5 at halftime.
The Reds started brightly in the second half, with fullback Peter Hynes slicing his way through the midfield to set up an attacking opportunity. Scrumhalf Will Genia pushed through a would-be tackler to score soon after, with Cooper's conversion narrowing the gap to 25-12.
A skirmish after Nic Henderson was felled by a high tackle resulted in O'Connor goaling a penalty. The fullback slotted another penalty five minutes later, taking the lead to 31-12 after 58 minutes.
The final minutes saw both benches emptied but there was no further scoring.
Hodgson, O'Connor, Brett Sheehan, Nathan Sharpe and Cameron Shepherd stood out for the home team, while Mark Bartholomeusz controlled the game well. Pek Cowan was solid in the unfamiliar position of hooker, with both the scrum and lineout performing strongly. Cooper, Hynes, and Genia were impressive for the visitors.
The scorers:
For the Western Force:
Tries: Hodgson, Harris, Brown
Cons: O'Connor 2
Pens: O'Connor 3, Shepherd
For the Reds:
Tries: Davies, Genia
Con: Cooper
Teams:
Western Force squad: Backs: Mark Bartholomeusz, Sam Harris, Dane Haylett-Petty, Stefano Hunt, Mitch Inman, James O'Connor, Chris O'Young, Brett Sheehan, Cameron Shepherd, Josh Tatupu Forwards: Richard Brown, Pek Cowan, Matt Dunning, Nic Henderson, Matt Hodgson, Tim Fairbrother, Kieran Longbottom, Ben McCalman, David Pocock, Nathan Sharpe (captain), Richard Stanford, Ben Whittaker, Sam Wykes.
Reds: 15 Peter
Hynes, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Digby Ioane, 12 Anthony Faingaa, 11 Rod Davies, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia (vice-captain), 8 Ezra Taylor, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 James Horwill (captain), 5 Van Humphries, 4 Adam Byrnes, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 James Hanson, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements - from: Ben Daley, Sean Hardman, James Slipper, Robert Simmons, Scott Higginbotham, Richard Kingi, Ben Lucas, Morgan Turinui, Blair Connor.
Referee: Stuart Dickinson
Assistant referees: Julian Pritchard, local
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