Cape Town - The Reds took a giant step towards avoiding the dreaded Australian Conference wooden spoon when they thrashed the Force in Perth on Saturday.
The Reds won 32-10 after leading 17-10 at half-time.
The Reds scored four tries through flyhalf Quade Cooper (2) and wing Lachie Turner (2). Cooper was also on target with three conversions and two penalties for a personal haul of 22 points.
The Force replied with a try by fullback Dane Haylett-Petty and a conversion and penalty by flyhalf Sias Ebersohn.
The Reds picked up a full-house of five points for their win, but stayed fourth in the Australian Conference. they did however move up to 12th in the Overall standings.
The Force left empty-handed and stayed bottom of both the Australian Conference and Overall log.
In next weekend's Round 17 action, the Reds host the Chiefs in Brisbane (Saturday, June 6 at 11:40), while the Force welcome the Brumbies to Perth (Friday, June 5 at 13:00).
Teams:
Force
15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Ryan Louwrens, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Matt Hodgson (captain), 6 Angus Cottrell, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Steve Mafi, 3 Tetera Faulkner, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Pek Cowan
Substitutes: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Chris Heiberg, 18 Guy Millar, 19 Sam Wykes, 20 Kane Koteka, 21 Alby Mathewson, 22 Luke Burton, 23 Patrick Dellit
Reds
15 James O’Connor, 14 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 13 Karmichael Hunt, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Lachie Turner, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Jake Schatz, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Adam Thomson, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 James Hanson, 1 James Slipper (captain)
Substitutes: (one to be omitted): 16 Andrew Ready, 17 Pettowa Paraka, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Ed O’Donoghue, 20 Beau Robinson, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Jake McIntyre, 23 Ben Tapuai, 24 Jamie-Jerry Taulagi