Late surge helps Reds to victory over Force

The Reds edged the Force in a 29-16 win in their Super Rugby Pacific encounter at the Perth Rectangular Stadium on Friday.

The Reds faced an early blow when their captain, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, was forced off the field just four minutes in with an ankle injury. They went behind three minutes later to a Jake Strachan penalty to make matters worse.

However, they showed glimpses of their grit early on as they hit back immediately, with Hamish Stewart going over for a try.

James O'Conner set the ball rolling with a lovely deft pass to put Fraser McReight through. The flanker then drew in the defender before offloading to Stewart, who could trot in for the score. O'Conner added the extras to make it 7-3.

The Force then took hold of the game and looked the more likely of the two sides to score before Jock Campell scored completely against the run of play in the 26th minute. O'Conner was again involved in the interplay before Jordan Petaia sent the fullback over in the corner.

The Force finally got themselves together in the 31st minute to convert a bit of their dominance into points. Issak Fines-Leleiwasa put in a beautiful chip kick behind the defence for Kyle Godwin to run on to and score under the posts. Strachan converted to make it 12-10.

The frantic first half concluded with Feao Gotuaika getting a yellow card after a scuffle broke out in the 38th minute before Strachan and O'Conner exchanged penalties to bring the score to 15-13 at the break.

After a promising start to the second half, the game began to break down a bit as a spectacle as the minutes wore on. Both teams struggled to hold on to possession, with elementary errors stifling the attack.

The Reds got their second yellow of the game in the 60th minute when Paisami got