O'Connor stars as Reds beat Force in Perth

Stand-in captain James O'Connor has produced a playmaking masterclass to lead the injury-hit Queensland Reds to a 29-16 win over the Western Force in Perth.

The captain's curse struck the Reds after just four minutes of Friday night's match when stand-in skipper Lukhan Salakaia-Loto injured his left ankle in a tackle.

With co-captains Tate McDermott and Liam Wright already out injured, it left O'Connor to take over the leader's duties, and the star Wallaby rose to the occasion with a hand in all four of the Reds' tries.

His most important contribution came in the 65th minute with the Reds trailing 16-15 and down to 14 men after Hunter Paisami was sin binned five minutes earlier for a lifting tackle.

O'Connor unleashed a perfectly-weighted dribble kick for Josh Flook to run onto, with the Reds winger snaring the ball and touching it down in the same movement a split second before being flung out of play.

The try and sideline conversion proved to be the critical moment of the match, with O'Connor setting up Fraser McReight six minutes later to seal victory and secure the bonus point.

The victory showed the fighting spirit of the Reds, who had been affected by the Queensland floods and an astounding injury list

"It's just an awesome result," Salakaia-Loto told Stan after the match.

"To sum it up, it was the Queensland spirit. It's been a massive week for our state, for our people back at home.

"So to be able to pull a result out there, that was pretty tight and tough against a real strong Force team.

"Full credit to the lads, I'm proud of the fight they put up."

Force captain Feleti Kaitu'u felt his team let the game slip.

"That one hurts," he said.

"I thought we had them on the ropes there through quite a few periods in