WESTERN Force continued its hunt for Super 14 semi-final berth in its second season by demolishing a woeful Queensland side 38-3 at Subiaco Oval in Perth last night.
Force, in fourth place on the Super 14 table heading into the weekend, ensured they would stay in the top four after securing a bonus point for scoring four tries - the first Australian team to do so this year.
But it was made to wait until the final minutes to secure the bonus point against a 14-man Queensland outfit missing nearly half of its top-line players.
Wings Cameron Shepherd and Digby Ioane both crossed in the dying stages of the match, adding some lustre to what had been an error-ridden, stop-start affair.
Force coach John Mitchell was delighted that his team deemed understrength without Matt Giteau and Matt Henjak, who both pulled out yesterday, citing injuries, could put in such a solid showing.
"You have got to rely on your squad system," Mitchell said.
"You can't always be tagging on to your marquee players.
"You have just got to get on and have faith in your player group, whoever they may be."
The Reds were under pressure from the start, with Shepherd opening the scoring after Queensland conceded a penalty right in front in the second minute.
There was controversy soon after when referee Brett Bowden awarded the home side a penalty try when he adjudged Queensland wing Peter Hynes to have deliberately knocked the ball down to prevent Force from scoring.
Hynes, one of the fastest men in Australian rugby, protested that he was attempting an intercept, and replays seemed to back him up, but Bowden awarded the try and showed the Reds wing a yellow card.
Jones said he did not feel any grievance towards the referee, despite the decisions that went against his side.
"Referees are prone to make decisions they might not make in other games, and you have just got to be in the right end of the field when it happens," Jones said.
"We were at the wrong end of the field and we paid the penalty.
"I don't have any grievance at all.
"The Force were down the right end of the field and it favoured them."
The hapless Reds suffered further when they lost hooker Sean Hardman and scrum half Will Genia with injuries before 20 minutes were up, adding to an already horrific injury toll.
Former Australia international Andrew Walker kicked a penalty to get the Reds on the scoreboard, but Force struck again after 25 minutes, when scrum half Chris O'Young crossed out wide after excellent lead-up work by No.8 Scott Fava.
In a further blow for the Reds, Hynes appeared to spear-tackle former Queensland teammate Drew Mitchell in the build up to the try, and referee Bowden sent him from the field for a second yellow-card offence.
Shepherd booted one more penalty to send Force into the break leading 18-3.
Force ground home the advantage in the second half, Shepherd kicking a brace of penalties before he and Ioane secured the bonus point with their late tries to give the home crowd something to remember other than an endless parade of collapsed scrums and dropped ball.
Force captain Nathan Sharpe said his team's defence had proved crucial.
"Our tackling impact has been down a bit and that was a big goal for us tonight - to stop getting their hands on the ball," he said.
"They had a limited game plan after that."
Queensland captain lamented poor execution.
"The boys tried hard but everything we did seemed to go wrong," he said.
"The bounce of the ball, the dropped ball, the 50-50 calls, seemed to go against us tonight."
Agence France-Presse
