Reds (6) 21 / Force (12) 20 (Final Score)

THE Reds broke out of jail in a scrappy Super Rugby opener against the Western Force, thanks to a late try by hooker James Hanson.

Report from Rugby Heaven

The Force left Suncorp Stadium kicking themselves after dominating much of the match with their marauding back row, while whiz-kid playmaker James O’Connor was brilliant at No.10, diving over for a try and booting five penalties to score all of his side’s points.

Gone was the happy-go-lucky back-line play from the Reds, replaced with a sluggish and unsettled effort that will give Ewen McKenzie plenty of spot fires to douse if they are to trouble the Waratahs next week.

”That wasn’t a great performance,” said Reds captain James Horwill, who was his side’s best in his comeback game from knee surgery.

”[I’m] happy that we got the win but we’ve got the Waratahs on Saturday, and we need to improve a fair bit. We probably didn’t play enough possession early in the game, and it didn’t pay off for us.”

The Force will fly back to Perth knowing they could lay claim to being the better team for 90 per cent of the contest. As McKenzie admitted, it was only the result that didn’t fall their way.

O’Connor, the man of the match, was sublime in the No.10 jumper for the Force, and would have thought he’d won the day when he raced 90 metres to score against the run of play deep in the second half.

He missed the conversion, and unfairly blamed himself for the loss, despite kicking five from seven and scoring all of his side’s points. As it was, the try Hanson, the Reds’ replacement hooker, scored with five minutes left was the saving grace for the home side.

Force coach Richard Graham said Queensland should get used to life as a Super Rugby threat. Their strengths and weaknesses had been laid bare.

“Like any new player that comes on the block, any new player that comes into Test cricket, nobody knows a lot about them initially,” Graham said. ”It takes a period of time before you work out their strengths and weaknesses. [After] Queensland’s great year last year, sides are going to go after them.

“There’s no creeping up on anyone this year for Queensland. [But] I do think they’ve got enough armoury in their side to come up with new ways of attacking.”

Scorers:

Reds: 3 Penalties & 1 Convrsion Quade Cooper, 1 Try Saia Faingaa, 1 Try James Hanson

Force: 5 Penalties & 1 Try James O’Connor

Teams:

Reds: 15 Peter Hynes, 14 Rod Davies, 13 Will Chambers, 12 Anthony Faingaa, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Ed Quirk, 6 James Horwill (captain), 5 Van Humphries, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 James Slipper, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Ben Daley.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Greg Holmes, 18 Scott Higginbotham, 19 Beau Robinson, 20 Ben Lucas, 21 Mike Harris, 22 Aidan Toua.

Western Force: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Gene Fairbanks, 11 David Smith, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Brett Sheehan, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Matt Hodgson, 5 Nathan Sharpe,  4 Ben McCalman, 3 Tim Fairbrother, 2 Ben Whittaker, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Kieran Longbottom, 18 Sam Wykes, 19 Tevita Metuisela, 20 James Stannard, 21 Alfie Mafi, 22 Rory Sidey.

Referee: Ian Smith
Assistant referees: Stuart Dickinson, Damien Mitchelmore
TMO: Steve Lesczcynski