{"id":8543,"date":"2012-03-03T14:50:31","date_gmt":"2012-03-03T12:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/03\/rugby-perfect-harris-helps-reds-down-force-in-brisbane\/"},"modified":"2012-03-03T14:50:31","modified_gmt":"2012-03-03T12:50:31","slug":"rugby-perfect-harris-helps-reds-down-force-in-brisbane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-perfect-harris-helps-reds-down-force-in-brisbane\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-Perfect Harris helps Reds down Force in Brisbane"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

March 3<\/span> (Reuters) – Super Rugby champion Queensland Reds
\nneeded another perfect kicking performance from flyhalf Mike
\nHarris to overcome Western Force 35-20 in a scrappy encounter in
\nBrisbane on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Reds scored first-half tries through Ben Tapuai and
\nRadike Samo in greasy conditions at Lang Park but it was the 25
\npoints from a flawless display of place-kicking from Harris, who
\nhas yet to miss a kick in Super Rugby, that proved the
\ndifference.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m pleased to win but not pleased with how we got it,”
\nReds and Wallabies captain James Horwill said in a televised
\ninterview. “Ball control was poor again and to allow them the
\nsoft tries that we did is just not good enough.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Force’s tries came at the start of the second half from
\nDavid Pocock and James Stannard but the Perth-based outfit never
\nlooked like having the cutting edge to convert pressure into
\nenough points to threaten the upset.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Reds winger Tapuai cantered down the sideline breaking
\ntackles for the first try after 20 minutes and number eight Samo
\nadded the second 16 minutes later with a 40-metre intercept that
\nhad echoes of his try for Australia against New Zealand last
\nyear.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

All the while Harris, standing in for the injured Quade
\nCooper, kept kicking points from all parts of the field and the
\nReds went in for halftime 23-6 up.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Two tries in five minutes in the third quarter of the match
\nbrought the Force back into the contest, however.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Captain Pocock led the way with his charge over opposite
\nnumber seven Beau Robinson to score under the posts before a
\nslick sidestep from Stannard sealed a brilliant solo effort and
\nthe flyhalf converted both to narrow the lead to 26-20.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Harris extended the Reds’ lead by another three points with
\na superbly executed kick from the right touchline just before
\nthe hour mark and concluded the scoring with two more in the
\nlast quarter.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Harris has now made 16 kicks from 16 attempts in the first
\ntwo matches of the season.
\n (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Peter
\nRutherford)
\n (For the
\nsports blog Left Field go to: blogs.reuters.com\/sport<\/a>))<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Please click on for more rugby stories<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 3 (Reuters) – Super Rugby champion Queensland Reds needed another perfect kicking performance from flyhalf Mike Harris to overcome Western Force 35-20 in a scrappy encounter in Brisbane on Saturday. The Reds scored first-half tries through Ben Tapuai and Radike Samo in greasy conditions at Lang Park but it was the 25 points from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-8543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}