The “magnifying glass” of the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens revealed a Queensland Reds side that still has plenty of work to do, according to former captain James Slipper.
But the Wallabies prop believes they are at least on the right track despite two defeats on the opening day of the pre-season tournament.
There were good and bad elements in their first outings under new coach Brad Thorn – not counting last week’s internal trial at Ballymore.
The Reds coughed up five tries and struggled to maintain possession in a 29-7 defeat to the Blues, then twice gave up the lead to fall 21-17 to the Melbourne Rebels, who snatched the win with a post-siren try from Mahe Vailanu.
Slipper, returning from an Achilles injury that saw him miss nearly all of the 2017 season, was rested from the latter fixture but said there was clear evidence of the team’s renewed focus on defence in scramble situations.
“We’ve worked pretty hard on it,” said Slipper, who has been replaced as skipper by Scott Higginbotham.
“Obviously having (Tony McGahan) come in and work on defence as well, we’ve identified that as a place where you can show attitude, intent and care for the place.
“Thorn wants players caring about the club and there’s no better way to prove that in defence as a team with the Reds jersey on.”
Queensland has a full 15-a-side trial match against the Fiji Warriors slated for next week and a beefed-up Slipper, who used his injury lay-off as a chance to pack on muscle, said it would be an important step in his return to full match fitness.
The 28-year-old played a handful of minutes in the NRC and said he was trouble-free so far this pre-season ahead of what looms as an important year for him as he looks to regain his Test spot.
“I haven’t been in rehab which is great and touch wood I don’t end up there. It’s given me a bit of a running start,” Slipper said.
John R
Roar Guru
If he stays fit, Perese looks like he could be set for a breakthrough year.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
BPA looks to be first choice right now.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Based on some people's say so it has. Based on any recorded statistics, that's not the case.
Harry
Guest
The Reds and other Australian teams looks smaller, slower and less skilled than the Kiwi teams. Extremely ominous for the SR season. Some points: - We once again saw that Hamish Stewart is a fine prospect but is not yet ready to assume the playmaking role at SR level. The reality is that none of the 4 flyhalf options - Stewart, Lucas, Lance and Duncan, has anywhere near Quade Cooper's attacking capabilities and game management attributes. - Tupou's defensive technique needs to be urgently addressed as he goes high every time and will be consistently carded and suspended at SR level. - On the upside, there appears genuine pace, if not size or smarts, with our outside backs. - Similarly, it looks like there will be good depth at hooker - Ready looked fit and back to his 16 form, and Brandon Paenga-Amosa also looked a fine prospect.
Harry
Guest
TWAS Kerevi's defence has been sub-standard throughout his career, it didn't just emerge as a problem last year. Poor coaching not to have addressed it in previous years.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
And even then it was never an issue until last year
Fionn
Guest
How come he defended fine at 12 for the Wallabies last year? I think it is only at 13 that he is a weak defender.
Redsfan1
Guest
Kerevi is fast becoming a serious liability in defence. He just has no idea in reading the play. A yellow card no surprise
Train Without A Station
Guest
Yeah. The biggest negative (or maybe it’s a positive) is that the effort and intent looked better with the fringe options than it did with the full squad members. We put up a very strong team first up. The team vs the Chiefs was much “weaker” but seemed to do a lot better in that regard.
Dave_S
Guest
Yes not much can be extrapolated from the 10s to SR 15s. A bit like 20/20 vs test cricket. A chance to see what some outside backs and ball-playing backrowers look like, that’s about it. TBH I’m not convinced it’s even worth the SR teams entering a team in the 10s, as far as pre-season prep goes.
Bob
Guest
For all you dissenters we beat the Chiefs to make it to the semi-final and there were some good signs through the game.
Train Without A Station
Guest
Big improvement from the Reds in general regardless of the result of the QF
Train Without A Station
Guest
Good result against the Wild Knights. Interested to here what the performance was like besides the result
hmmmm
Guest
No surprises Kiwi domination of Aus sides and consistent insipid Reds performance. Only thing more disappointing than the results from Aus sides is the crowd turn out. Meanwhile Quade, the one reds player who could be bring some interest in this format is nowhere to be seen. The Rugby tens promoters must be disappointed.
Ruckin' Oaf
Guest
The loss to the Rebels also showed some poor discipline and poor defensive nous. Two traits that were notable last season.
Malo
Guest
It shows the reds have no depth and have two hands on the spoon
Train Without A Station
Guest
The scores are almost irrelevant for that reason. It was a little disappointing the loss to the Rebels because even though it was our B team from the 10s squad, it was much stronger. Intent, attitude, defensive structure, etc are all that should be judged given winning reasonably won’t be a high priority.
Rhys Bosley
Guest
It is quite clear from his use of substantially different teams in each game, that Thorn is using the Tens as a trial for the fringe players. The fact that he has also left out a number of key players, Higgers and Pai’aua stand out, reinforces this view. The results are disappointing, especially the Blues match, but they are probably more significant for the blokes competing for spots than anything else. And the tournament might serve as a timely wake up call to the team in general, that they still have a lot of work to do.
Train Without A Station
Guest
The results are almost meaningless. The only take away was aspects of the loss to the Blues were disappointing and showed signs that could flow over into real games. Not a great start in that regard with the strong team.
Gepetto
Guest
The Reds looked like the Aussie 7s team without Stannard... guileless in attack. Coach Concussion better start winning. His post game excuse making is not up to Deans and Cheika standard. The Red's board have heard from excuses from the likes of Richard Graham and Nic Stiles for years. Local fans want to be entertained.