Reds stun Crusaders with thrashing at Suncorp
By Jim Morton, 20 Feb 2010 Jim Morton is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Crusaders, Quade Cooper, Reds, Rugby Union, Super Rugby
Playmaker Quade Cooper bagged a record 31 points as Queensland ended an 11-year Super 14 drought against the Crusaders with a stunning 41-20 upset at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
But the Reds uplifting four-tries-to-two victory was soured with the potentially season-ending knee injury to skipper James Horwill.
Wallabies lock Horwill was carried off midway through the second half with ligament damage after winger Digby Ioane crossed to give the home side a 27-6 lead.
While they were ahead by three converted tries, the game was far from in the bag as the Crusaders rallied with a try to halfback Andy Ellis after Reds lock Adam Byrnes was sin-binned.
But the seven-time champions momentum was stopped when a loose pass, one of dozens by the off-key visitors, saw Morgan Turinui pounce and put blazing winger Rod Davies away for his first Super 14 try and a 34-13 lead.
Cooper completed the bonus-point victory when he cheekily intercepted a pass by Ellis after the halfback had already knocked on.
It was his second try for the match and his personal haul of 31 points, which included an eight from 11 goalkicking display, eclipsed Elton Flatley’s (26) Queensland record for most points in a Super rugby match.
“It’s an awesome result and there was a lot of talk whether we could back up after last week so it’s nice to shut a few people up,” said Horwill, who feared he faces a long stint on the sidelines.
“It doesn’t look real good, I’ll have a scan but I think I might have done a few ligaments in my knee.”
Cooper and fellow Wallabies back Will Genia were superb for the Reds throughout, while debutant Jake Schatz stood up in a powerful back-row with Daniel Braid and Scott Higginbotham.
The last time Queensland beat the Crusaders was in 1999 and they had previously given up halftime leads in the Christchurch-based team’s last two visits to Brisbane.
The Crusaders, without rested All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw, shot themselves in the foot with poor handling on a muggy night, the first time they have conceded 40-plus points since the 2004 final loss to the Brumbies.
The Reds lacked the fire of last week’s first-half display against NSW but still took a 14-6 lead into halftime as Cooper pulled the strings expertly.
The early highlight was a scintillating team try by the home side, started and finished by maturing flyhalf Quade Cooper.
Cooper threatened throughout the first half with his deft inside passes and it was one to Morgan Turinui which sparked the 65m move that also saw fellow backs Rod Davies, Will Genia and Peter Hynes expertly play their parts.
The 34th-minute try came just as Crusaders prop Owen Franks was preparing to return from the sin-bin following a professional foul after Cooper was cut down metres short of the goal line.
Reds coach Ewen McKenzie was also pessimistic about Horwill’s chances of lining up in the Super 14 again this season, which would be a devastating blow to his young team.
“It looks like a pretty serious injury, we’re not talking about a one-week injury, it’s at the serious end and that obviously takes a fair bit of the gloss from the evening,” McKenzie said.
The new coach praised the combination of Genia, Cooper – who rated the best Reds win he’s been involved in – and Anthony Faingaa, highly impressive at inside centre, as the Reds arrowed through the middle of the Crusaders.
But McKenzie admitted he was nervous after Ellis’s try against his 14-man outfit.
Crusaders counterpart Todd Blackadder praised the Reds physical, ball-in-hand game but felt the match was there for the taking before Davies’ try against the run of play.
“We gave ourselves an opportunity and the tide was turning, but then it was gone,” he said.
Blackadder lamented his side’s ill-discipline in defence, which led to Cooper’s five penalty goals, poor tackling and dreadful handling.
“We didn’t have a great night and usually we’re a lot better than that,” he said.
“When we had the ball in hand it was very un-Crusader like and we were just trying to force the pass.”
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Temba said | February 20th 2010 @ 5:19am | Report comment
You have to love s14, no one ever knows who will really win and the teams are so even. Watching the chiefs putting crickets scores on now. Later game of the weekend Bulls vs brum… Who knows hey?
True Tah said | February 20th 2010 @ 6:31am | Report comment
Well done to the Reds, that was good stuff and I reckon Ballymore will be a close to selling out next weekend against the Blues.
And I saw that 72-65 scoreline, tells me that defence as far as the Lions and Chiefs goes is the thing around the pitch.
Not bad thus far, picked four from four!!!
katzilla said | February 20th 2010 @ 7:39am | Report comment
Wow TT. Kudos to you if you picked the Cheetahs to get the Sharks. Kockett had a shocker an the Sharks played a huge hand in their own demise.
I’m 2 from 4. Good to see the Crusaders get rolled.
True Tah said | February 22nd 2010 @ 9:32am | Report comment
Saw enough of the Reds last week to convince me that they could do the job.
The Cheetahs beat the Sharks pretty convincingly last year, and didnt do too bad against formidible Bulls side the week before.
Who Needs Melon said | February 20th 2010 @ 6:37am | Report comment
Like ALMOST* everyone, I’d written the Reds off completely and was overjoyed watching them last night. All of them seemed to have so much belief, spirit, ‘starch’ (as Kafer put it) and – can you believe it – composure! Quade Cooper had a blinder. Will Genia had a blinder. Devastating for them to lose Horwill but, like the Waratahs loss, hopefully they can use it to spur them on rather than as an excuse to fold. I think I’ll be watching every Reds game this year from now on.
* kudos to TORF and OME to name a couple.
The Other Reds Fan. said | February 22nd 2010 @ 8:21am | Report comment
Thank you for the acknowledgement.
Like I said after the NSW loss, we’re back.
Hoy said | February 20th 2010 @ 7:29am | Report comment
Well, I humbly apologise for saying we would be 0 and 2 after last night.
Crowd of 18K.
Where to start. The Crusaders were really off their game. Ellis in particular, but also Carter looked a bit lethargic. Their backs looked good early on, with Fruean really looking dangerous at 13 in the opening 10 minutes.
After a few early penalty trades, the Reds began playing and really attacked the Crusaders with everything and everyone.
One thing I will say about the Reds attack is that after about 2-3 phases, everyone seems to be in the ruck, and only 2 players lined up outside to get the ball from the ruck. When they get it, they have opposition defence lined out in front, so it is like 5 defenders on 2 attackers, with nowhere to go. It happened several times last night, and needs to be addressed I think.
I was saying before the game that the Reds need more penetrative centres. Last night the centre pairing did quite well from broken play, however they don’t seem to break the line from set plays too often. I am not sold on either Faingaa twin, however last night, I would say the Centre had the better game.
Hooker Faingaa has a massive problem with his throwing. Again, it becomes incredible that a professional player, whose main aspect of the game is to throw lineouts, can’t throw lineouts.
If Horwill’s leg is as bad as thought, it will be a massive blow for the Reds. Lets just hope that he comes good for the Wallabies.
Adam Byrnes was good for a send off again last night. He really needs to address his discipline. Admittedly it was at a rather crucial point of defense with the Crusaders attacking on the Reds line, but he just keeps giving away crucial penalties.
Cooper has come on in leaps and bounds. He isn’t trying to do everything, but he is doing the right things more often than not now. Really come on heaps. Hope he doesn’t go to jail.
Digby Ioane is so strong in contact. There were times when he was sandwiched between two or three forwards and he just keeps powering through contact. Awesome.
Genia is fantastic. I shat my pants when he went down. He and Waldrom had a personal dual all night, and I must say Genia got the better of the number 8, with some big telling tackles. Waldrom is a massive unit this year, however he didn’t have a happy night with a few dropped balls at important times.
All up, a great game to watch. Good attacking rugby by the Reds, however I would like them to try to go for the line a bit more when given penalties. In hindsight, it was probably the right thing to do in taking the points, given Faingaa’s wayward throwing.
1 from 2. Much better.
Jannerboyuk said | February 20th 2010 @ 7:33am | Report comment
I like the new reds kit!
sheek said | February 20th 2010 @ 4:50pm | Report comment
That’s fine….. except the Queensland state colour is maroon, & has been maroon for over 100 years.
Blues are blues, be they royal blue, dark blue, light blue, navy blue, sky blue, pale blue, cyan blue or whatever.
So Reds can be maroon, scarlet, cardinal, cerise or whatever, the marketeers don’t need to change the jersey colour to fit the nickname, which is precisely what has happened here…..
cookie said | February 20th 2010 @ 7:44am | Report comment
Hats off to the Reds, well played especially loved the commitment and drive.
Better still i don’t think they won because the crusaders didn’t turn up, they won because they were absolutely determined.
More please!
Has Horwill ever completed a season? From memory he is injured about this time every year?
MR said | February 20th 2010 @ 10:28am | Report comment
Cookie, I agree, the Crusaders didn’t play that badly, they just weren’t allowed to play by a combination of Red aggression & not reading the ref so they kept getting pinged at crucial times. Then when they had the ball they were playing catchup & flipping dropped it. Reds broken field attack was great & their loose forward combo worked better than I expected.
Well done the Reds.
Pete said | February 20th 2010 @ 7:51am | Report comment
What a game. As a Tahs supporters I never thought I’d be so happy to see the Reds win. Cooper and Genia were awesome… loved it.
Cookie, I agree. I don’t think the Crusaders were off their game, they were done over by a Reds team, who for the first time in ages that had self belief. Those youngs Reds outside backs are very very exciting.
Sambobly said | February 20th 2010 @ 8:09am | Report comment
I told you boys. I said, Reds by 10+ because I had a gut feeling. Well, am I glad to be proven right!
sheek said | February 20th 2010 @ 8:12am | Report comment
Thankyou Queensland Reds,
For giving me back my love of rugby union. Loved the game last night. The Reds’ enthusiasm, their defence, their intensity, their creativity, their opportunism & their apparent sheer enjoyment of playing the game…..
Blinky Bill of Bellingen said | February 20th 2010 @ 8:41am | Report comment
Hear hear.
While Queensland is not ‘my team’ (NSW tragic), at the moment they are the team I most enjoy watching. Or to put it another way, following NSW is like showing up to work when you don’t like your job. Watching Queensland is like being on holidays….you know “Queensland. Perfect one day, better the next”. It’s a bit like that.
I’m also wondering how these rule interpretations will effect Richie when he returns. One thing for sure the new style of play is just what Rugby needed. The players are liking it, the refs are consistently enforcing it and the fans are getting to see great running Rugby.
Rickety Knees said | February 20th 2010 @ 11:58am | Report comment
A big ditto – a wonderful courageous performance. The shot in te arm that Australian Ruby needs.
Matt said | February 20th 2010 @ 8:15am | Report comment
Agree with all above comments. Great to see the Reds turn up and give it a red hot go (no pun intended). I also liked that they didn’t go into their shell when the Crusaders where coming back. That sort of composure in a young team speaks volumes.
And Quade had a great game. At time he is looking like Bernie, the way he hits runners with those long balls.
Good stuff Reds.
CraigB said | February 20th 2010 @ 8:28am | Report comment
“At time he is looking like Bernie” – lets not go nuts….