Tongan Thor puts hammer on Rebels

TANIELA Tupou’s two tries inspired the Reds to victory over the Rebels to set up a mouth-watering showdown with the Brumbies next week.

After coming away from Melbourne with a 44-19 win in the bag, the Reds will host the Brumbies in a topof-the-table battle in Brisbane which could see Brad Thorn’s Reds clinch a home final.

Wallabies prop Tupou, nicknamed Tongan Thor, kept up the Reds’ winning ways with a try on three minutes from a maul.

The Rebels then gifted them another try with a sloppy intercept pass thrown blindly by Reece Hodge into the hands of Hunter Paisami who raced clear to score from 70m.

Reds skipper James O’Connor then cut through and, with four options out wide, found Tupou who showed his pace to stay with the outside backs and received the pass to score his second.

But the Rebels fought back on the half-hour with tries from Frank Lomani and Hodge to trail 24-14 at the break.

A second intercepted pass by the Rebels gave the Reds the perfect opportunity to pull away in the second half. Jock Campbell took possession and passed to flanker Fraser McReight to dive over, before the winger scored himself on the hour.

Rebels No.8 Michael Wells got a well-earned try but the Reds remained in full control, even adding a late try through replacement Josh Flook.

Waratahs pushed the Brumbies close on Friday night but fell short 24-22 in the week they sacked head coach Rob Penney.

Tom Banks, Tom Wright, Andy Muirhead and Folau Fainga’a all scored to give Brumbies the edge. Harry Johnson-Holmes, Will Harrison and James Ramm scored for Brumbies.