The Western Force survived a heart-stopping finale to beat the Queensland Reds 19–14 at HBF Park, with veteran Kurtley Beale producing a match-winning turnover in the dying seconds and Carlo Tizzano crossing twice on his 50th Force appearance. The result blows the Super Rugby Pacific finals race wide open with two rounds remaining.
Key moments
6 mins – TRY FORCE: Brandon Paenga-Amosa throws for Jeremy Williams, who claims nicely. The Force set up the rolling maul and drive towards the line before Carlo Tizzano emerges from the pile at the back. Max Burey converts. (Force 7–0 Reds)
11 mins – BIG HIT: Zac Lomax is crunched by debutant lock Hamish Muller in a bone-rattling front-on tackle that halts the Force’s momentum.
20 mins – TRY REDS: Carter Gordon nails a 50–22 to flip field position. Harry Wilson bursts straight through the defence and is cut down two metres short by Mac Grealy. Louis Werchon goes left to Joe Brial, who powers over. Werchon converts. (Force 7–7 Reds)
27–31 mins – REDS SIEGE: The Reds set up camp inside the Force 22, tapping twice from penalties five metres out but the Force hold firm. Zac Lomax produces a remarkable juggling intercept to deny a golden opportunity, before Carter Gordon stabs a kick into the in-goal that is knocked on by the Reds. Force survive.
Half-time: Force 7–7 Reds. A fiercely contested first half with momentum constantly shifting. Tizzano’s maul try gave the Force an early lead, but Gordon’s 50–22 and Wilson’s power set up Brial’s equaliser. The Reds dominated the final 15 minutes but were denied by Lomax’s intercept and their own handling errors. The Reds lost four of their nine lineout throws in the opening 40 minutes.
44 mins – TRY FORCE: Hamish Stewart sends a cross-field kick for Zac Lomax, who cannot regather cleanly but the ball falls backwards off him. Mac Grealy pounces on it to score on his 50th Super Rugby appearance. Burey converts. (Force 14–7 Reds)
48 mins – REDS DENIED: Harry Wilson dives for the line under penalty advantage, but the TMO finds no conclusive evidence of a grounding. The Reds opt for a five-metre scrum.
51 mins – TRY REDS: From the scrum, Wilson goes left and the Reds swing it wide. Gordon throws a classy pass to Jock Campbell, who shifts it to Tim Ryan on the edge, and the winger strolls over in the corner. Werchon converts from the touchline. (Force 14–14 Reds)
55 mins – TRY FORCE: Max Burey stabs a kick over the top and George Bridge claims it with a juggling grab 15 metres out. The Force spread it left and find Carlo Tizzano on the edge, who dives over for his second. Burey’s conversion hits the left post. (Force 19–14 Reds)
77 mins – CONTROVERSIAL MOMENT: Tim Ryan breaks through the line and finds Treyvon Pritchard, who crosses halfway and dishes off an inside pass towards Jock Campbell. Force fly-half Max Burey gets in the way and the ball deflects off him. The Reds’ coaching staff are left fuming, believing it was a cynical knock-down, but referee Jordan Way deems the ball came off Burey’s chest in a legitimate play. Force scrum.
80 mins – BEALE SEALS IT: The Reds mount a final attack from a scrum 22 metres out, building phases through Wilson, Brial and Uru. Brial loses it in contact, Dylan Pietsch picks it up, and Kurtley Beale wins the decisive turnover with a clean rip. Burey kicks to touch to seal the victory on Beale’s 185th Super Rugby appearance — equal third all-time with Aaron Smith.
Full-time: Western Force 19–14 Queensland Reds
Match report
For a team clinging to the faintest of finals hopes, the Force produced the kind of gritty, desperate performance that will sustain their belief heading into the final fortnight. Tizzano’s double and Beale’s nerveless intervention in the dying seconds earned a victory that keeps the Force mathematically alive at 22 points, six adrift of the Reds in sixth, with home matches against the Fijian Drua and Waratahs still to come. For Les Kiss’s Reds, who chose to rest four Wallabies for the trip west, it was a result that could prove enormously costly.
The Force struck first through the set piece, turning down an early penalty in favour of the corner and making it count when their rolling maul powered Tizzano over in the sixth minute for his sixth try of the season. It was a textbook finish from a forward pack that had clearly identified the lineout drive as their primary weapon, and Burey’s conversion gave the home side a confident start.
The Reds responded through the individual brilliance of their captain. Wilson stormed through the middle of the Force defence with a carry that should have produced a try, only for Grealy to somehow haul him down two metres short. Brial finished the job from close range two phases later, and Werchon’s conversion levelled the scores. Gordon’s 50–22 had been the catalyst — a beautifully weighted kick that flipped field position and put the Reds on the front foot.
What followed was a prolonged Reds siege that should have produced at least one more try. They tapped twice from penalties five metres out, only for the Force’s desperate defence to hold firm each time. When space finally opened, Lomax produced a remarkable juggling intercept that denied the Reds what appeared a certain score. The visitors then butchered another golden opportunity when a Gordon grubber sat up invitingly in the in-goal, only for the Reds to knock it on. At 7–7 at the break, the Force could consider themselves fortunate to still be level.
The second half opened with a bang. Stewart’s cross-field kick sailed over Lomax and Ryan, the ball falling backwards off the Force winger for Grealy to pounce on and score on his 50th Super Rugby appearance. Burey’s conversion made it 14–7, but the Reds struck back swiftly through a slick set-piece move. Gordon’s classy pass found Campbell — magnificent on his 100th Super Rugby cap with 87 metres gained from eight carries — who put Ryan into the corner untouched. Werchon’s touchline conversion levelled things once more.
Tizzano’s second try proved the difference. Burey’s chip kick and Bridge’s juggling claim 15 metres out created the opening, and the Force’s multi-phase attack worked the ball wide left where Tizzano was waiting on the wing. Burey’s conversion struck the post, leaving the margin at just five points and ensuring a nerve-shredding final quarter.
The Reds threw everything at the Force in the closing 25 minutes but could not find the breakthrough. The most controversial moment arrived in the 77th minute when Ryan broke through the line and found Pritchard streaming down the wing. The teenager’s inside pass towards Campbell was deflected by Burey, who got his body in the way. Kiss and his coaching staff were furious, believing it warranted a yellow card or penalty try, but Way ruled the ball had come off Burey’s chest in a legitimate attempt to intercept. Kiss was philosophical afterwards. “You knock the ball and knock it to the ground,” he said. “That’s up for them to make a choice. It certainly seems to have changed in terms of its interpretation in that area. But it is what it is. We’ll live with it and accept it, no problems.”
The final act belonged to Beale. With the Reds building phases from a scrum 22 metres out, Brial lost the ball in contact and Beale pounced with a clean rip to seal the victory on his 185th Super Rugby appearance — drawing level with Aaron Smith for third on the all-time list behind James Slipper (210) and Wyatt Crockett (202). “I didn’t realise that but I’m really enjoying my rugby,” Beale told Stan Sport. “The Western Force are an amazing club, great organisation, and a great bunch of lads here to play with.”
Williams, who led the Force superbly from lock, summed up the significance of the result. “It was a bit of a do-or-die game for us,” the captain said. “We’ve just got to walk towards it I guess.” For Wilson and the Reds, the mood was altogether different. “It’s very disappointing,” the skipper said. “We had plenty of chances and didn’t capitalise. We got in their A-zone a few times and not being able to complete there definitely hurt us.”
The loss leaves the Reds clinging to sixth on 27 points, just two ahead of the Waratahs after their 50–35 demolition of the Drua in Suva earlier in the day. With trips to face Moana Pasifika and then a home match against the Drua to come, Kiss’s gamble to rest McReight, Flook, Daugunu and Salakaia-Loto may yet prove a costly miscalculation. The Force, meanwhile, moved up to ninth on 22 points and will fancy their chances of adding to their tally with the Drua and Waratahs visiting Perth in the final two rounds.
Match details
Western Force 19 (Tries: Tizzano 2, Grealy; Conversions: Burey 2/3)
Queensland Reds 14 (Tries: Brial, Ryan; Conversions: Werchon 2/2)
Half-time: 7–7
Venue: HBF Park, Perth
Attendance: 6,203
Referee: Jordan Way (Australia). Assistant Referees: Damon Murphy, Jeremy Markey. TMO: James Leckie.
Teams
Western Force: 15 Mac Grealy, 14 Zac Lomax, 13 George Bridge, 12 Hamish Stewart, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Max Burey, 9 Nathan Hastie, 8 Vailoni Ekuasi, 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 5 Darcy Swain, 4 Jeremy Williams (c), 3 Misinale Epenisa, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 1 Harry Johnson-Holmes.
Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 Marley Pearce, 18 Sef Fa’agase, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Will Harris, 21 Agustin Moyano, 22 Bayley Kuenzle, 23 Kurtley Beale.
Queensland Reds: 15 Jock Campbell, 14 Tim Ryan, 13 Isaac Henry, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Lachie Anderson, 10 Carter Gordon, 9 Louis Werchon, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 John Bryant, 6 Joe Brial, 5 Seru Uru, 4 Hamish Muller, 3 Massimo De Luttis, 2 Josh Nasser, 1 George Blake.
Replacements: 16 Matt Faessler, 17 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Charlie Brosnan, 20 Vaiuta Latu, 21 Kalani Thomas, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Treyvon Pritchard.
What’s next
The Force host the Fijian Drua in Perth next weekend before finishing the season at home against the Waratahs. The Reds travel to Auckland to face Moana Pasifika before a final-round home match against the Drua, needing at least one win to secure their place in the top six.
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