The Reds’ 45-19 loss to the Rebels was clearly disappointing for the Reds faithful, but I still enjoyed watching an entertaining losing game of footy like only a Reds and Wallabies fan can. And there were definitely a few take homes from the performance which I reckon are worth talking about, so here goes.
1. In 2018 if you are loose, you lose
The Reds were handed a manure sandwich in the nith minute by none other than their new Captain Courageous, Scott Higginbotham, who dropped his shoulder into Matt Phillip’s head and was red carded for his trouble.
It was a stupid act by a player who should know better, but coach Brad Thorn needs to make sure right now that this isn’t a systemic issue. In times gone by players may have gotten away with that sort of thing, but with World Rugby taking a very dim view of head contact it won’t wash in 2018.
As Thorn’s old Captain Richie McCaw said in his book, don’t whinge when rugby changes, just adapt, so Thorn needs to ensure that his coaching is adapted to the new reality.
2. The best defence to ever leak 45 points
Thorn has rightly placed emphasis on improving the Reds’ defence this season and despite leaking seven tries, it was actually pretty good in the context of playing a man down for 61 minutes and two men down for 10.
The Red’s tackle completions were 78 per cent, by comparison the Rebels were at 58 per cent, so for a depleted team the Reds did very well at defending.
The Rebels scored a lot of their tries off lineouts of scrum penalties against a depleted reds scrum, and most of the tries not because of poor tackling, rather good exploitation of overlaps and mismatches by the Rebels. So I still have some comfort in the Reds’ defence going forward.
3. Attacking enterprise
For a depleted team the Reds showed a lot of enterprise in attack, scoring one of their tries with 14 players on the park and another with 13.
The last try in particular, by Chris Feauai-Sautia was a long range ensemble effort that shows that this young team has a lot of potential.
Samu Kerevi’s cross field kick, which didn’t come off by which was a good effort, as well as Aiden Toua’s effort to set up a kick chase at the death, showed that these Reds aren’t scared to take chances and they have the raw material to turn those chances into tries.
4. Spend more time on catch, pass and kick
While the Reds may have the raw material in attack, it is not enough if those players core skills let them down when it counts. Handling and kicking errors persist like they did in the trial game against the Fiji Warriors last week, and perhaps suggest that for the next few weeks Thorn needs to recalibrate training schedules away from defence and fitness, and towards skills.
5. Run straight from 10 and run the attack from 15
Jono Lance seems to me to be a bit rusty after some time off with injury, as he isn’t a player normally associated with the kicking and passing errors that we have seen. Hopefully emphasis on skills will get him back up to speed.
However, his running game shows unrealised potential. Lance isn’t a speedster but he is solid and evasive, so can typically break a couple of tackles to make good ground. Unfortunately against the Rebels he just wasn’t getting the support he needed to turn it into more.
I would suggest support play to take advantage of Lance’s running game should be a big emphasis at Reds training going forward, as well as perhaps Lance himself practicing getting the ball to the toe for a speculative kick chase when there are no other options.
At 15 Aiden Toua showed himself to be an enterprising playmaker, with a natural ability to find space, make long and accurate passes and kick in attack, evidenced by his close involvement in the second and third tries of the match.
He has only been back at the Reds for a couple of weeks, but as the combinations develop I wonder whether he could be encouraged to step up and play an even greater role in calling the shots in attack, much like Hunt did last year and like Beale does for the Tahs?
Having a hole running 10 to create space, backed up by a second-wide running playmaker works well for them, so I would like to see Lance and Toua try to combine in that way to spark the Reds attack.
Until next week and the Brumbies, we are Red!
Ex force fan
Guest
For a game played on a Thursday afternoon (we still have the record for most fans that turned up on a Thursday afternoon as there was no other Superugby games played on a Thursday afternnon ever). Game started at 5:30 while most of us are still at work.... and we did not sell cheap membership or mailed free tickets, Anyway there was 8,500 there our lowest number for the year. Of course we will comment on articles that cover the Force. The Force appointed a coach and new commercial management this week, signed players for the Force team, are negotiating with former international players and there are ongoing negotiations between the RA and Mindaroo about the IPRC. We also have a new grassroots program Rugbyroos that is rolled put in Perth. Can you point me to any article on the roar in the past week that cover any of this news? Nope, there are none. If there is any bridge building required it must come from those that blew up the previous one. Get use to it, I will not go away and will continue to point out how dumb the decision was to axe the Force.
Redsfan1
Guest
Let's not forget that the Force had only 7000 turn up for their first game against the Reds last year. With a paltry season average of 9,520. Force fans need to build a bridge and get over it. The constant whinging on every rugby article- that aren't even connected to the Force- is tedious.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
I hope for Melbourne sake that the win brings fans back to the game. If it doesn't, the bookkeepers are going to struggle.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
Dwards, I was glad you said it, I was too chicken and was ducking the issue. I didn't want to talk turkey only to look like a goose.
piru
Roar Rookie
That was our average last year, and Perth is half the size of Melbourne congrats
MARTO
Guest
Horrendous effort by the 22 man team for 70 mins .No pride in the jersey.Woeful effort. Thorn has done nothing on coaching his discipline into the team and his supposed new Defensive grit was nowhere to be seen in his REDS. He needs to be sacked forthwith.He selected the wrong captain.Give Qaude a call, he is a leader of men.. Brumbies by plenty this week.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
I think EFF's point may be related to the justification for keeping the rebels over the force may not be so justified. That said, have you seen the crowd numbers at a Sheffield shield (Chocky milk cup) match? You don't need bums on seats if you have eyes on screens. Does anyone have access to the viewer numbers? Over here in WA we sold out the new stadium for a women's AFL match. Sure they were $2 tickets (Plis ticket teks "Handling fee") but if you are giving them away to rabid fans and still can't get a bump in numbers, there is a problem. Was there an AFL game on at the same time? Or soccer? Or basketball?
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
I was unaware that Jono had been injured, I thought he was off at Worcestershire . I didn't think he played well by his standard, kicking in particular let him (and many others) down in that game. But What I did see was him making plenty of important tackles in the 10 channel, not something we see a lot of from Foley or Cooper, A skill that I believe is highly underappreciated by a highlights reel centric audience and probably why the margin wasn't 14 pointslarger. As to Higgers, a bad mistake but look at the play leading up to it. Matt Philip on Tuttle, that was never going to end well, Where was the support? Neutralized by the New-look Rebels. Higgers Fault or Philips Credit - I would say 50-50
rebel
Guest
Another new handle with the same theme. Someone's bored.
Nicolai
Guest
Ex FORCE fan. You do know that it was ONLY the cheapest membership that had a price cut?! You do know that the Brumbies also had a price cut for some of their memberships - how do you feel about that. Yes 10000 is low compared to the 17000 average of 2011 But a better start that the pure hel that was 2017
ThisHasToEnd
Guest
Sure you did. And the fact that Thorn is a Kiwi and you've been desperate to defend and praise him at every turn has nothing to do with your opinion.
Jacko
Guest
I thought the REDS were fantastic considering the man sent off in the 10th minute and the yellow which followed soon after. Thorn clearly has them firing in both defence and attack and as for any discipline issues well just count the cards we had in this round and you will see that its clearly all about the head of the runner. I don't get why a kick to the head was not even looked at....yes it was totally accidental but we are told that tackling high is a minimum yellow whether accidental or not. The yellows handed out for tackles where the runner was very very low is a concern for me as coaches and players will soon learn that going low is the way to run when close to the line and as we heard a number of times this weekend....I have no choice but to penalise and card as the arm came in contact with the head...so we will see more and more of this, this season.
Rhys Bosley
Guest
Thanks Riddler. I didn't take enough notice this game, but in the trial game the lineout problems seemed to occur mainly when Mafi came on. I think he throws it too low, which can be rectified with practice like you say.
Ruckin' Oaf
Guest
"..excluding the 2 cards..." Excluding the iceberg the Titanic had a fantastic maiden voyage.............
riddler
Guest
very good rhys.. and very circumspect without the hyperbole.. i too wasn't that disappointed, unlike last year.. i see some potential there.. losing a no.8 for 70mins is probably one of the worst ones to lose.. lance had a very very rough start , first ten minutes were not pretty.. but he got better.. he pushed a few passes but am hoping that settles down.. simmons value in lineouts was evident.. hopefully also that will be rectified..lots and lots of contested lineouts this week at training.. let's see how we move on.. tks again for the piece..
Luke Smith
Guest
I think a 10,000 sized crowd for a season debut match in Melbourne, where the main AFL season won’t start for another month or so is quite dire (although we’d probably take that in Brisbane for a Reds match at this point in time)!
Dwards
Roar Rookie
Having reread my comment there are not too many birds causing trouble in super rugby, paid or otherwise. But professional fouls are indeed a blight on the game. :)
aussikiwi
Guest
Professional fowls are a blight on the game. They should go play league for Manly or Easts.
Harry
Guest
Well I admire your optimism RHys but I thought it was a pretty bad indicator of the Reds prospects. The Rebels were also poor with too much dropped ball and poor execution of basic skills until Genia took control. Both Tui and Higgers cited.
Harry
Guest
IS a crowd of 10,000 a good thing? Seriously?