Sunwolves vs Reds: Super Rugby live scores, blog

You really are a tw1t

"Who cares how they scored the tries" People who follow the Reds and want them to have a backline that shows intelligence, cohesion and an ability to mount a sustained attack. But hey instead why don't they just bash away, rely on the brilliance of one or two players and hope the forward back can drive over. That's how you build a successful team.............

Well what its got to do with Cooper is that Cooper is the most obvious example that Thorn has no idea. The guys Thorn put in in his place have been abject failures, and all he does is shuffle them around ie Stewart at fullback, another great decision that cost the Reds points with Stewart in an unfamiliar position gifting the Sunwoves a simple try down the blind side. We get a hooker who can't throw straight, yet Ready is nowhere in the picture. Thorn thinks he knows what he is doing, he believes his own BS, but results show otherwise. Time for him to face facts.

Well Taylorman, Cooper is only languishing in club football getting paid a big slice of the Reds salary cap because one of your countrymen apparently feels he's not better than the non-performing players he's chosen in his place....Not that Thorn has ever proffered any reasonable explanation for his obviously outrageous decision - "he doesn't fit in our (my) plans" just doesn't cut it. Thorn is way beyond his depth, and he is the one that should be held responsible.

Hey Rhys, The only positive note I thought that could possibly be found about the Reds performance was that at least we'd be spared those blind sycophants who seem to revel in deifying Thorn. Yet here we are. When a team has the majority of the possession a majority of the territory and a minority of the score then how on earth can you possibly say that the attack isn't a problem. Oh because that might imply that Saint Brad of Thorn who must be worshiped at all costs could possibly be wrong. Reds supporters support the Reds. I dunno who on earth would be supporting Thorn at this point in time.

Oh, the one who is paid more than everyone in that comp combined? The same comp where most have real jobs?

So unless a ref has a perfect game we should call them out?

"How some guys can on about the ref after a 63-28 loss makes me lose hope about humanity." So, NV, the refereeing was perfect, no contentious decisions at all ?. Surely you would concede that rather than a 31 point defeat, a much more realistic sub 20 point margin would have been a fairer result. I would say the posts of StevieB and Dave S are fair.

Ps KCOL, the Reds has 62% territory and 60% possession, so clearly the attack wasn’t making them vulnerable by losing them field position. You should probably look these things up before making a fool of yourself with incorrect assertions again.

KCOL, my tone was less “I told you so” than an expression frustration with all the anonymous whingers like you, taking constant shots at the coach from the cheapest of cheap seats.The Reds have performed badly for the previous four years, including when Cooper was playing, so you would think that people would just give a coach who is trying something different a go. But no, you just snipe from behind your keyboards and you would probably do the same if a new coach selected Cooper and didn’t do any better or even worse - which on recent history is likely. It is pathetic behaviour and given the vintage that your handle implies, you are probably old enough to know better. I don’t have anything else to say to you, I find conversations with such negative contributors tiresome.

RO, people can come with all the stats tgey want, but the only stat that matters is that Thorn has won more games in 13 rounds, including against a good opponent in the Lions, than the Reds did all last season with Quade Cooper in the team. Today was a stuff up and hopefully the Reds learn their lesson, but Thorn has undeniably improved things doing them his way.

Tahat is a pretty fair post, PM. A really disappointing result, but good luck to the Sunwolves. "There is much to do at the Reds but is there anyone to do it" Ja, that is the crux of the matter. Darkest hour stuff now. But one would not be totally surprised to see them pull off another shock win....very unlikely though.

Daugunu was great. If only there was an inside back that could have passed to him?

I will give you this, Rhys. It is brave of you to come on here tonight to mount a defence. To start, I felt that the Reds copped a beating from the officials today. However the result today keeps a large can of worms open in Queensland. Your recent article on the wonders of Thorn’s wisdom is one that I and others had some criticism for. One imbalance in it was its ‘told you so’ tone, in praise of Thorn’s momentary success in the previous game. Well, Thorn has fixed discipline and defence? No, he has taken a big selection gamble as a rookie coach and hasn’t fixed the discipline and defence. The Reds camp seems to be divided in two. One supports a Bronco and AB, the other one of the Reds favourite sons and the most skilled 10 in the country?. Your reference to four tries in a losing score is disingenuous, when backline attack is such an important asset - both to place a team in penalty kicking territory, as well as to create more tries. Of course the lack of attack creativity in the Reds under Thorn is a handicap, a handicap he has chosen, allegedly to relieve himself of another handicap? (Coopers tackling?) Cryptic comments along the lines of ‘we are going in another direction now’ etc. are all we hear from Thorn. And here you don’t see what the current argument has to do with Cooper? What other crucial question don’t you see? Well I did not think it much till today, but Thorn may well be ‘going in another direction’ - all by himself..

Now Rhys this is the kind of attitude that calls down TWAS upon us to flood the blog with stats. You know the ones that show that the Reds last year conceded fewer points and tries with Cooper on the field as opposed to when he was off. Maybe a fly-half who is a good organiser can organise defence as well as attack.

The Reds’ 92-3 loss to the Bulls in 2007 was even more dire than this but the most embarrrasing i’ve seen was the Crusaders flogging of the Waratahs by 96 points about 15 years ago.

Reds car park I hear, Woodie

Let's be honest here, the Australian conference is still very, very poor. Despite this, they lost 25-32 to the Brumbies (in Japan), 17-37 to the Rebels (in Japan), 29-50 to the Waratahs (in Japan). Today they beat the Reds in Japan. That's their only win of the season and they conceded 50 points to the Sharks, 40 to the Lions, 61 to the Chiefs and 43 to the Crusaders. They haven't really been pushing teams up until now. Why are we setting them up in Super Rugby for the sake of expansion? If Japan isn't going to take the Sunwolves seriously, why are they a part of it? Also, why should they get favours from SANZAAR if it is purely a marketing exercise and they aren't being taken seriously by Japan? Japan definitely has a very strong team they could put together through their league, but they haven't done so. Okay, 4 games in three seasons. I wouldn't have such a problem if it was a team of mercenaries and they were good (but I still wouldn't like it per se). But at present it seems clear that they aren't really being taken seriously by SANZAAR or by Japan. Japan also doesn't need the Sunwolves, already having a very successful domestic competition that has contributed to the drain of so many good Australian and South African players. I never said that they were breaking any rules? That's a straw man.

Oh Dear look who the Reds have got next !!!!

They are in SR first foremost to establish Super Rugby in Japan. Secondly to give them a platform to build the Blossoms ahead of the World Cup. They are not breaking any rules, only the "special rules" you have invented so you can have go. Your "they are a joke" comment is embarrassing. They have got zero favors from SANZAAR and yet they push the Kiwi teams way harder than most Aussie teams do. Next week they have another home game. But not in Tokyo. They have to go to HK. And the next home game after that they have to go to Singapore. Of a total of 21 home games the first three seasons they will have played eight away from Tokyo. And they never ever have Japanese refs. And they have won fours games now.