Reds winger Suliasi Vunivalu sent off as Queensland falls to Fijian Drua in Suva
The ill-discipline of Queensland winger Suliasi Vunivalu wasn’t what the Reds needed against Fijian Drua.
Suliasi Vunivalu has had a homecoming to forget, with the Reds winger sent off in Queensland’s 28-19 Super Rugby Pacific loss to Fijian Drua in Suva.
Recalled to Queensland’s starting side, Fiji-born Vunivalu was yellow-carded twice on Saturday for tripping Drua opponents, with his second act of ill-discipline leading to a subsequent red card in the 50th minute.
Despite the rules allowing the Reds to even up playing numbers 20 minutes after Vunivalu’s dismissal, the Queenslanders were still forced to play for half-an-hour with a man short after his initial yellow card in the first half resulted in a 10-minute stint in the sin-bin.
Vunivalu’s horror performance was part of a shoddy display from Queensland, who paid the price for not only poor discipline, but handling errors, some ordinary kicking, lineout problems and costly turnovers when in good attacking positions.
Queensland coach Les Kiss’ decision to make nine changes to the team that started in last week’s 26-22 win over the Melbourne Rebels also might have contributed to the defeat, with the fifth-placed Reds often lacking cohesion in their sixth defeat of the season.
“We got punched in the face early,” Reds flanker co-captain Liam Wright said.
“Our contact wasn’t good enough, we were falling off tackles and (Drua) ran hard, especially in front of their own crowd. We knew they would.
“Our lineout didn’t function well enough. That took away a lot of our platform for the backs, and as forwards that’s something that we pride ourselves on, so we’ve got to be better there.”
The Reds made a shocking start, conceding two tries in the first eight minutes
A Vunivalu trip on Drua flanker Kitione Salawa, who was certain to score under the posts after some poor Reds defence, resulted in a penalty try being awarded to the hosts.
Drua made the most of their one-match advantage to score again through hooker Tevita Ikanivere and take an early 12-0 lead.
The Reds finally woke from the slumber in the 12th minute when winger Floyd Aubrey – who was starting a Super Rugby match for the first time – dived over out wide after running on to a perfectly weighted cross-field kick from flyhalf Lawson Creighton.
The Queensland No.10 then did it all himself 12 minutes later with a dummy and some fancy footwork to score under the posts.
A penalty goal on the stroke of half-time from replacement Kemu Valetini gave Drua an 18-14 lead at the break.
Drua again started the second half stronger with Ikanivere scoring his second try of the match in the 46th minute,
Vunivalu’s second tripping offence in the build up to try, led to the former Melbourne Storm winger receiving his second yellow card of the match, and a subsequent dismissal from the contest.
Despite a late try from Reds replacement hooker George Blake, Drua held on for their fifth win of the season.
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