Tupou charge a blow to Reds

INFLUENTIAL prop Taniela Tupou is facing a ban for a careless no- arms tackle which threatens to trim the strikepower of the Reds.

The citing from yesterday’s fighting 25- 19 loss to the Stormers is the worst possible news because it threatens his spot for the April 7 rematch against the Brumbies in Canberra.

The Reds are expected to fight the charge after the citing commissioner deemed the incident had met the red card threshold for foul play.

The postscript to the gutsy fightback from 18- 0 down in Cape Town put a dimmer on the Reds proving their neversay- die attitude does travel under coach Brad Thorn.

At the eight- minute mark, Tupou buried his right shoulder and a left hand shove into winger Craig Barry, without the ball. South African referee Marius van der Westhuizen wanted to review the contact but, over the ref’s mic, said play had moved on too far.

Tupou played a big role in mangling the Brumbies scrum in an 18- 10 upset earlier this month yet struck problems by giving away three scrum penalties to the Stormers.

Thorn replaced him at the 52- minute mark, so as not to raise the ire of van der Westhuizen any further, and the remodelled scrum quickly earned a penalty.

The Stormers were superior but a wonderful 95m try past three defenders by winger Filipo Daugunu just 30 seconds from full- time created late drama.

“I’ve seen games, when 18- 0 down, easily blow out but these guys just kept on competing,” coach Thorn said.

“They’ve had a round- theworld trip ( Buenos Aires- London- Cape Town) this week, a lot that wasn’t rosy out there and to get within that range of winning is a great effort.”

Captain James Slipper saw the broader positives even though his 100th game was not a victory. “We know we’ve got to keep improving but from where we’ve been to where we are now, we’ve come a long way,” Slipper said.