The Force bulldozed the Reds in an old-fashioned thrashing to claim their third win of the season and hand the Reds\u2019 their second straight loss on Saturday.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
It was meant to double as Lomax\u2019s debut, but the Force said in a statement that he \u201cexperienced hamstring tightness this week\u201d and that the club \u201chas taken a precautionary approach after a steep build\u201d.<\/p>\n
Force flyhalf Ben Donaldson made an eye-catching audition for the Wallabies No.10 jersey by outplaying rival flyhalf Carter Gordon in a 42-19 win.<\/p>\n
Donaldson was the brilliant firing pin behind the Force\u2019s fantastic surge from an unlikely 21-12 half time lead to an unassailable 35-12 advantage with 20 minutes to play.<\/p>\n
His polished showing featured six-from-six conversions, no mistakes, sharp passing and a pin-point crossfield kick to leaping right wing Derby Lancaster, leading to a 28-12 score.<\/p>\n
Conversely, Gordon made two mistakes and couldn\u2019t really get his backline firing as the Reds suffered from a lack of possession in the first stanza and were outenthused at the breakdown in the second.<\/p>\n
The Reds weren\u2019t themselves in a 52-14 blowout loss last week against the Hurricanes and struggled to find the magic mojo that helped them win four games straight after a first-round false start against the Waratahs.<\/p>\n
Kurtley Beale and Henry Robertson of the Force celebrate victory during the round eight Super Rugby match between Queensland Reds and Western Force at Suncorp Stadium, on April 04, 2026, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
14-YEAR FIRST<\/p>\n
The Force hadn\u2019t pinched a bonus-point win against the Reds since 2012. To keep their season alive, the visitors from Perth trampled all over Queensland, highlighted by Franco Molino\u2019s third try which added icing to the cake late.<\/p>\n
The Reds started well, with Joe Brial elite in the opening passages. However, injuries to birthday boy winger Treyvon Pritchard, 19, and hooker Josh Nasser signaled the start of bad things to come for the hosts.<\/p>\n
The Reds were at their best when winger Tim Ryan scored a superb set-piece try courtesy of a neat Hunter Paisami pass and a cracking try by Brial thanks to a Kalani Tomas quick tap.<\/p>\n
The Reds were last in front 12-7, before the Force went on a 28-nil run until Filipo Daugunu\u2019s late consolidation try gave fans something to cheer about.<\/p>\n
Queensland\u2019s worst enemy was Argentinian lineout champion and two-try lock Molina who was still smothering the hosts in the 70th minute and never stopped moving.<\/p>\n
SECOND-HALF THUMPING<\/p>\n
To put a dampener on Matt Faessler\u2019s 50th match for Queensland, the visitors ran rampant after a brilliant passage of play involving Champion de Crespigny and dashing Reds discard Mac Grealy, making it 21-12 on the stroke of half. <\/p>\n
The Force built on that momentum when Lancaster scored a stunner. Donaldson put it on a dime. Lancaster landed awkwardly on his left ankle and did not play any further part in the game.<\/p>\n
Ahead 28-12 with 30 minutes left, the Force continued to dictate terms when Reds talisman Harry Wilson was given the softest yellow card of the season when rushing forward in defence.<\/p>\n
He grazed big Milano\u2019s nose and the \u2018head on head\u2019 contact spelled wraps for an under-siege Reds\u2019 hopes as another Reds discard, hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa, made it 35-12 with 20 minutes remaining. <\/p>\n
Paenga-Amosa was outstanding, as was Grealy. The fast fullback showed flashes of the brilliance he demonstrated as a Downlands College game-breaker. The ones that earned him a Reds contract out of school in 2020.<\/p>\n
But it was Pumas powerhouse Molino who frustrated the hosts most when he scored his third try to seal the game, keeping the Force season on life support and ushering in an exciting fortnight with Lomax\u2019s debut looming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zac Lomax\u2019s Super Rugby debut has been delayed after the former NRL star was a late withdrawal from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-585145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}