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‘Upset of the round’: Two ex-Wallabies react to Force’s win over Reds
By Finn Morton
Australian broadcaster Sean Maloney has described the Force’s stunning 40-31 win over the Reds as the “upset of the round” as the men from out west got their season back on track.
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Before round five, the then-second-placed Queensland Reds were overwhelming favourites to get the job done over in Perth after starting the season with three wins from four starts.
The Reds had emerged as a genuine contender in Super Rugby Pacific after their near-perfect run, with their only loss coming in a golden point thriller against the Hurricanes at AAMI Park.
As for the Force, they started their season with a series of tough defeats and sat anchored to the bottom of the table along with the winless Crusaders.
But the panel on Stan Sports’ Between Two Posts were quick to praise the Force this week after a Bayley Kuenzle double helped inspire a nine-point win over their Australian rivals.
“We’re all wondering how good the Reds were and how consistent they could be,” former Wallaby Morgan Turinui said.
“The Force looked good, they looked smart.
“(The Reds) played poorly because they weren’t allowed to play well,” he added.
“I thought there were some adventurous little bits of pieces in there in the beginning of their match which was like a new little phase play, the mini maul… just the fact that we saw a few new things I wonder whether this week was, ‘Oh let’s try some things.’
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“We don’t want to overanalyse what the Reds have done, the Force were excellent. Breakdown pressure, intensity, beat the Reds to the punch.”
After a scoreless start to the match, wing Bayley Kuenzle started the Force’s first-half point-scoring blitz with the opening try in the 15th minute, which was converted by Ben Donaldson.
Former Maori All Blacks lock Tom Franklin and New Zealander Chase Tiatia also added to the score as the hosts ran in 21 unanswered points.
While Queensland slowly clawed their way back, the full-time score made the match look closer than it was with Fraser McReight and Jock Campbell scoring tries late in the piece.
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The Force have moved up one place on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder to 11th after that drought-breaking defeat, with the Crusaders the only winless side left in the competition.
As Super Rugby champion Stephen Hoiles explained, the Force have “got it in them” to be a more competitive side should they develop into a more consistent side away from home.
“The thing is with the Force, take out the game before last weekend, every game up until now… there’s been great starts or great finishes, so they’ve shown glimpses in all but one of their five games and last weekend’s game was excellent,” the former Wallaby explained.
“They were very good at home last year and they weren’t very good on the road, and they’ve been poor on the road this year. That’s what they’ve got to change.”
