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What was wrong with James O'Connor last night?

22nd May, 2015
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James O'Connor has been arrested in Paris. (AFP PHOTO / Patrick Hamilton)
Expert
22nd May, 2015
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All James O’Connor had to do on his return to Australia was stand up, be counted, and pack his bags for the Rugby Championship, and the Rugby World Cup. Not any more.

On Friday night he had a game he would rather forget as the Reds reverted to their bad old days to be stitched up by the Sharks 21-14 at Suncorp. The 20,899 faithful fans were disappointed in their hope of watching a repeat of last week’s 46-29 hammering of the Rebels.

But the story is James O’Connor.

Not only was he innocuous in attack, his forte, but he was pedestrian slow when clearing the ball from his own quarter. And he was out of position when Sharks livewire half-back Stefan Ungerer broke on the blindside of a scrum to cover the 30 metres and score without a hand being laid on him.

The fault was shared by Reds flanker Adam Thomson who didn’t break quickly enough.

As the Reds left the field at half-time, O’Connor was having heated words with Thompson to the extent Will Genia had to keep them apart as they entered their shed.

Worse happened at the 69th minute mark when O’Connor was again slow clearing from his own in-goal, only to drive the ball into the chest of Ungerer 10 metres out, who strolled over for his second try and a match-winning seven-point lead.

That was game, set, and match, even though the Reds enjoyed 63 per cent possession and made just 81 tackles compared to the Sharks’ 133. The visitors were by far the better side on the night.

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They came to play, led by the world’s best hooker Bismarck du Plessis, with his prop brother Jannie almost as dominant. Out the back Ungerer, co-pivot Lionel Cronje, and JP Pieterson were tireless in attack and defence as the Sharks ended a six-match losing streak.

For the Reds, hooker James Hanson had a blinder. and all but pulled victory out of the fire on three occasions with long searching runs, looking more like a back in action that a heavily built rake.

Flanker Liam Gill was also tireless, as was Genia who is fast getting back to his best which augurs well for the Rugby Championship and beyond. It looks as though Quade Cooper will be back next week after two months off with another shoulder injury, with just enough time to press his claims for the Rugby Championship.

Cooper’s vast experience will do wonders for Reds’ centres Karmichael Hunt and the 21-year-old Samu Kerevi, who scored a bullocking try on Friday night in the first half but bombed a second when he again cut the defence to ribbons. With only the fullback to beat and support on hand, he kicked ahead, and a certain try was bombed.

But he did set up the try of the game in the second session by bursting through the Sharks defence inside his own quarter, and nine pairs of hands later Chris Kuridrani scored his first Super Rugby five-pointer in the left-hand corner – a simply magnificent try.

That was the highlight, but there were times where I thought I was watching the Waratahs playing in bloodied jerseys as the Reds kept making the same mistakes – losing possession, and poor handling.

Wasted rugby.

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If the Waratahs butcher possession and make the same elementary mistakes on Saturday night, the Crusaders will punish them severely and dent their campaign aspirations.

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