While the Reds luxuriated in their first round bye, Moana were melting in the mid 30 degree heat in their 84-minute loss to the Force. Moana have stuck with the starting side that played last week, but you’d have to say there’d be some fatigue after the effort last week. While the Reds have named seven Wallabies to start and another three in the tight forwards to finish the game and counter the power of the Moana scrum. This should be a comfortable win for an ambitious Reds side, but Moana Pacifika look sharp and have ambitions of their own.
The Match
First Half
The Reds came out of the blocks like lightning with early tries to Seru Uru on the back of a jinking run from McDermott. Daugunu strolling over off a lovely pass from Asiata. And Tim Ryan going in from long range off a Jock Campbell pass, all within the first 15 minutes.
After a pretty nice day in south-east Queensland, it only took 15 minutes of rugby to bring the rain. With it came a Moana resurgence. Almost immediately, Artie Savea scored an unconverted try and the Reds were treating the ball like a piece of soap.
Moana kept the pressure on for the rest of the half but could only manage one penalty in that time. More concerning for the Reds were the yellow cards for Paisami, Smith and McDermott, which could affect them late in the second half. The half-time score was 21-8 to the Reds.
Second Half
The Reds started the second half with a try to Matt Faessler off a good lineout drive, but they gave that good lead away with poor ball security and positive play from Moana, who scored two long distance tries through their excellent wingers, to close the gap to just six points.
Queensland struck back through a nice play around the back of the lineout that had Blyth charging over. Then his locking partner Ryan Smith finished off the try of the game, that went through plenty of hands and travelled 70 metres. Kyren Taumoefolau score his second great try of the match to scrape one back, but the Reds were on a roll with tries to Fraser McReight and Harry McLaughlin-Phillips to put the result beyond doubt.
Moana Pacifika scored right on full time to finish off the try fest, but in the end the Reds were too strong and ran out winners 56-36.
There’s a lot to work on for the Reds with plenty of penalties, three yellow cards, a lack of ball security and too much dropped ball.
Scorecard
Queensland Reds: 56
Tries: Seru Uru, Filipo Daugunu, Tim Ryan, Matt Faessler, Angus Blyth, Ryan Smith, Fraser McReight, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips
Conversions: Tom Lynagh 7, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips
Penalties:
Moana Pacifika: 36
Tries: Ardie Savea, Solomon Alaimalo, Kyren Taumoefolau 2, Alan Craig
Conversions: William Havili 4
Penalties: William Havili
Cards: Hunter Paisami YC, Ryan Smith YC, Fraser McReight YC
