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.
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.
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.
Aidan Loveridge
Roar Pro
I don't think that's true sharks looked to be the better side all game even with the copious amount of injuries the squad had sustained throughout the tour. Refereeing decisions? i don't know if you watched the Waratahs game last week but the Sharks were so obviously shafted it was ridiculous the ref was in a shambles didn't even know whether it was halftime or not. So i think they deserved a slight rub of the green for a change and if they don't like BDP pilfering the ball perhaps they should work on cleaning out more effectively
Peter Hughes
Guest
Don't let ignorance & blindness affect your decisions. JOC played out of position against the lions & did ok imo - not great but good considering his lack of experience in the position. The reason he got picked for it was cos he was one of the Aust's best performers at the time. Aust lost the series 2-1 & were thrashed in game 3 - cannot blame JOC for that. The 3m burger was a behaviour issue
Casper
Guest
reminds me of the young version of Michael Clarke, hope he can eventually wake up to reality & turn it around like Clarke has. Qld Reds have a dud coach & too many unearned reputations. That's what happens when you end up having a 'franchise' in place of a state team. When the going gets tough, oops - there aren't any toughs to get going!!
Bfc
Guest
Toomua is a fine 10/12 but simply does not have the ability to bust the line like Kerevi. If Kerevi gets a run in the upcoming RC and 'makes the grade', a Kerevi-T. Kuridrani centre pairing could eventuate, and that would pose a threat to any defence without exception. Line breaking ability combined with good hands and quick footwork...a boom prospect to be sure, just wonder if Cheika will pick him...
Sprigs
Guest
Worries the NZ teams but.
Bakkies
Guest
If he is then there is more trouble for Cheika. He was coming off 59% at Toulon.
Bakkies
Guest
Remember 2013 where he was injured and than played flyhalf against the Lions missing crucial kicks adjacent to the posts? There was also the 4am burger. Didn't do much on the pitch for the Rebels. Just let ignorance and assumptions blind your opinions.
Kiwi
Guest
What are you smoking? This guy has NEVER been any good. He is just showing you how average he is. He has no step (or fend), runs very ordinary lines, and has only confirmed that he can't kick, which we already knew from the Lions series.
Roberts
Guest
My sentiments exactly. I go to watch them fight and be competitive. It's when they lack the fight and are absent in defence I can't stand it. Friday night showed fight but lacked composure. Sharks definately got the run of the green! Ref had a terrible night highlighted by the penalty to the Sharks on a Reds scrum that collapsed before the ball was even put in the scrum and the Sharks prop arm hit the ground first!! Tacklers not rolling and not supporting their weight when pilfering. It became a bit of a pattern.... Not judging each ruck on its merits, poor reffeering.
Peter Hughes
Guest
Bollocks Bakkies - JOC was an excellent international player & one of the W's best performers before he was sacked for bad behaviour only. Can you remember 2 yrs ago Bakkies. He did purgatory in a French club & has come back less fit, less skilled & slower. This is the typical result for most southern hemisphere players. Giteau & Mitchell will be no different - only 3-4 yrs older.
Taylorman
Guest
What really gets me is how so many great players have turned to mush. There were times in their careers that cooper, certainly Genia, JOC, Beale were considered at some point top one or two in their position in the world. Now they're inconsistent, flaky. They say form is temporary class is permanent but with those guys I think there's a new argument for that.
Jb
Guest
He had a poor game, plenty of the Reds squad have had shockers this season many more than one as their ladder position suggests. I think if slipper really is injured and misses wallaby tests we may have the first redless Wallaby 15 picked in a while, Simmons is underperforming brumbies have the midfield locked down joc Genia Horwill or cooper maybe on the bench if their lucky. Shows how much rugby is struggling in oz right now.
allblackfan
Guest
JOC looked to be in two minds. His instincts were obviously clashing with what he had been told to do and it showed. I wonder whether he was trying to adhere to the game plan (got to admit, I didn't watch the last 20 minutes!). As for the Sharks first try, Thompson was somewhat culpable. The job of a blindside flanker is to defend against that kind of play. You could see that Adam was caught out while he was still bound to the scrum; he expected the ball to go the other way. What he should have done was defend the space. In saying that, Adam was the only defender to put a hand on Ungerer when he tried to push him out in vain. Genia has gone into his shell; he could very well be playing his way out of a RWC spot.
colvin
Guest
Do you remember him scoring a late try against the ABs in Hong Kong (beating McCaw) and then kicking the winning conversion from near the sideline. Pretty good stuff.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
James Graham and Matt Scott aren't vastly different to Webcke in size, just to pull two examples off the top of my head.
joseph
Roar Rookie
and JOC needs to step back a touch and allow his inside players a bit of room to ove and set up play - hard to to this when the defence is crushing your backline though.
joseph
Roar Rookie
Just like the rest of the team, another bad night at the office. Hard for any player to look good when a team is having a shocker. I actually thought JOC played well up until his most unfortunate kick. McIntyre played well considering the opposition and the lack lustre support he had in play. HIs defence and attacking the line for a kid in a second super rugby game was right up there. Kicking can probably improve, but that will come. Kuridrani was strong and reliable, until he kicked it. Holmes was strong and often the first to the breakdown. Genia seemed to not even want to be there tonight probably because the forwards were a bit too slow, leaving the pill for the keeping way too often. Certainly wasnt Gill's best game but he had his golden moments.Hanson was purely outstanding. Full credit to the Sharks for a hard fought win and forcing the errors to get it. No one can blame just one person, albeit coach or player. The Reds are not in a good space, the year is nearly over and if their so called Board do not see the writing on the wall then it will happen all over again in 2016. Would love to see this line up just play hard running rugby and not fall for the oppositions tactics.
Daz
Guest
Probably more like gen FU.
Bakkies
Guest
And ex centres go in to the front row
Bakkies
Guest
O'Connor's best tries for Toulon came from space and footwork. His inside players have to create it for him.