The brave Queensland Reds have fallen 31-5 to the Fijian Drua in Lautoka to see their Swyftx Super Rugby Women\u2019s season end in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
Harmony Vautau, Eva Karpani and Ava Wereta all demonstrated the grit and effort to the Reds\u2019 play with big try-saving tackles.<\/p>\n
The pacy Fijians seized their chances more clinically and turned a tight 7-5 lead after 24 minutes into a clearcut victory for their cheering home fans.<\/p>\n
There was a turning point at the 38-minute mark. With the Drua down to 14 players because of a yellow card, the Reds set a 5m lineout.<\/p>\n
Backrower Zoe Hanna made a clean catch but the drive was denied on the tryline and the score stalled at 19-5 until half-time.<\/p>\n
Karpani had no right to stop a Drua try just after the break. Singlehandedly, she held up a Fijian attacker before she could fall over the tryline.<\/p>\n
It was the Drua who still scored first with 14 players to open the second half and the match drifted beyond reach for the visitors at 24-5.<\/p>\n
The injection of prop Tanya Kalounivale in the second half gave the Reds fresh life. Her rumbling charges gave the Reds momentum.<\/p>\n
On 67 minutes, the Reds took a tap penalty on halfway with Kalounivale turning her back on the defence to set a maul. Incredibly, the maul was marched 50m until Hanna was denied by being held up over the tryline.<\/p>\n
It was a day of great pride for Kalounivale, the Black Ferns Test prop playing her first top-level match in Fiji with family in the crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we are disappointed to not win and make the final,\u201d Reds skipper Jemma Bemrose said post-match.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still super proud of the girls. We fought the whole season to get where we are and showed a lot of heart doing it.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026and wow. The Drua are just an electric team to play. This is an atmosphere I\u2019ve never been involved in before. It was an absolute privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reds flanker Zoe Hanna takes on the Fijian drua defence in Lautoka today<\/p>\n
Centre Wereta and fullback Vautau made their marks in the backline while backrower Dillyn Blackburn made several strong ball-carries out wide in her most influential game of the season. <\/p>\n
At moments in the match, you could see how effective the Reds\u2019 tactics could be with short-passing exchanges and taking on the Fijians in the middle. At other times, there were good gains with the ball going wider.<\/p>\n
The Reds try was the best example. The Reds built an attack before centre Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea put a perfect long ball in front of winger Charlie Brigstocke.<\/p>\n
The long-striding winger beat two defenders with an eye-catching 40m finish to show her potential at this top level in her debut Reds season. Her first try as a Red is one she’ll remember.<\/p>\n
The Fijians fed on a rash of stolen lineouts in the first half to build their three try strikes for a 19-5 half-time lead.<\/p>\n
The Reds kept probing and Bemrose all but scored on full-time. She made a superb 55m run to within metres of the line before being dragged down in the final minute.<\/p>\n
The Fijians celebrated at full-time. They will host their first Super Rugby Women\u2019s grand final next weekend.<\/p>\n
FIJIAN DRUA 31<\/p>\n
Tries: Kolora Lomani 2, Karalaini Naisewa, Atelaite Buna, Salaseini Railumu<\/p>\n
Conversions: Varanisese Qoro 3<\/p>\n
Def<\/p>\n
QUEENSLAND REDS 5<\/p>\n
Try: Charlie Brigstocke<\/p>\n
Half-time: Drua 19-Reds 5<\/p>\n
Venue: Churchill Park, Lautoka<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brave Queensland Reds have fallen 31-5 to the Fijian Drua in Lautoka to see their Swyftx Super…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,12061,760,85],"class_list":["post-807440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-queensland-reds","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807440","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=807440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}