Reds send Force packing

The Reds did Australian rugby's Super 14 semi-final hopes no good by beating the visiting Western Force 29-12 in Brisbane on Friday.

The home side led from start to finish as the Force crumbled in the second-half.

The Reds put their noses out in front within a minute of the kick-off and never looked back.

Number eight Leroy Houston was at the bottom of a pile of Reds forwards who rumbled over the line to give the Force an unwelcome wake-up call.

A battle of the place-kickers ensued and the Reds led 13-12 at half-time.

The second-half was a completely different story as the Reds starved their opposition of possession, scoring sixteen unanswered points for a deserved victory.

After that Houston's early try, the Force stepped up their intensity and took control.

Despite the Force having almost all the possession and looking the more dangerous side on attack, the Reds kept the scoreboard ticking over.

Clinton Schifcofske and Berrick Barnes were punishing the Force from the kicking tee as the visitors were consistently penalised for joining the rucks from the side and slipping off-side in defence.

It's was clear the Force were keen to play expansive rugby and full-back Cameron Shepherd often stepped or kicked them into favourable positions.

After going 7-0 down the team from Perth clawed their way back into contention as the Reds were being penalised for playing the ball on the ground and coming up in defence too early.

Schifcofske sin-binned

When Schifcofske was sent to the sin bin, with the score at 10-9, to pay for his side's repeated infringements, it looked like the Force would finally crack the Reds defence as they lay siege to the home side's line.

It was not to be though, as some sloppy handling saw another golden opportunity for the Force left unconverted.

With Schifcofske absent, Barnes stepped up to put the Force four points adrift after they climbed over the fence instead of coming through the gate. Again.

As the first-half matured the Reds gradually began to create a few chances as they started to find a bit of the rhythm they were lacking early on.

Shepherd slotted his fourth penalty from four attempts to bring to the side in blue just one point adrift at the stroke of half-time.

The fact that the first 40 minutes saw only nine line-outs and a handful of scrums was an indication of how open the game had become.

But, unlike the Chiefs in the day's earlier game, neither team could convert all that space into tries.

The second-half started similarly to the first as the Reds scored a try within a few minutes of coming out of the tunnel.

Turinui try

Ben Lucas sent the ball down the line in what seemed in innocuous move until centre Morgan Turinui handed off Richard Brown to slice through the Force's defensive line and cruise over.

Brown has not missed many tackles this season but he would rather forget his effort to try stop Turinui. A try-saving tackle from Ryan Cross on Joe Roe 10 minutes later kept the visitors in contention but the tide had turned.

When Tamaiti Horua was forced to limp of the field just minutes after coming on, the Force were forced into a personnel reshuffle which saw 17-year-old James O'Connor run on as the youngest debutante in Super 14 history and Scott Staniforth packing down at flank.

The Reds had their tails up, and in stark contrast to the first-half, proceeded to hang on the ball. Starved of possession, the Force seemed to have run out of ideas of what to do with the ball when actually got their hands on it.

The acres of space all over the park was like manna from heaven for Reds replacement Andrew Walker who rounded off the win with a try for his new franchise.

Force captain Nathan Sharpe called his team's performance "by far the worst of the season" and with a visit to the rampant Chiefs on the menu for next weekend, their semi-final hopes are fading fast.