Cellar dwellers Force stun Reds in Perth

The perennial cellar dwellers of Super Rugby, the Force were able to snatch the win through a late Curtis Rona try, the former rugby league player's first in Super Rugby, in the 69th minute.

That gave the Force a 23-19 lead, after scores had been locked at 12-12 at the break.

A penalty goal conversion by Ian Prior in the 76th minute pushed that lead out to seven points and the Force were able to hang on to end their home drought after 10 straight losses in Perth.

Force captain Heath Tessmann hailed a new resolve within the team.

"I think 12 months ago we might not have carried this off, but there is a lot of confidence in this group," Tessmann said.

The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the Reds and particularly winger Eto Nabuli, whose hat-trick of tries wasn’t enough.

Nabuli, another former rugby league player, ran in tries in the 19th, 21st and 49th minutes, after the Force had opened the scoring in the second minute.

Force winger Chance Peni was on the end of some clever passing and crossed for the first try to give the apprehensive home crowd an early boost.

Nabuli then stepped up and his brilliant second try put the Reds in a strong position early, but Force lock Matt Philip bustled over in the 34th minute to level the scores heading into half-time.

Fijian Nabuli’s third try gave the Reds a 17-12 lead and Quade Cooper added the two for the conversion.

However, the Force struck back through successive penalties in the 54th and 67th minute, both from the boot of Prior, to set up their late push to victory and they held a last-gasp challenge from the Reds at bay.

Wallaby forward Adam Coleman limped off with a leg injury late in the first half, but the Force said the injury was not serious.