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The Queensland Reds hit the Crusaders with two of the best tries of the season, threw 55 minutes of thumping intensity at them and still lost by 22 points.
That is the brutal reality of cut-throat finals footy in Super Rugby Pacific. The Reds went up a level but when it mattered the Crusaders went up two levels for longer.
Coach Brad Thorn and the Reds will find little solace in being applauded for their committed display when losing 37-15. They were only in wintery Christchurch to win for the first time this century.
That really is the measure of what they were trying to pull off. It took one of the great Queensland sides with Tim Horan, Toutai Kefu, two-try Chris Latham, Daniel Herbert, Ben Tune and David Wilson aboard to win 36-23 in 1999.
That was really the problem for the Reds.
They didn’t have enough weapons to inflict more than a flesh wound on the Crusaders. Oh for Taniela Tupou and James O’Connor in that side.
If prop Tupou had been fit, the Reds scrum would not have been mutilated on their own feed 5m from their own line.
Crusaders flyhalf Richie Mo’unga took a quick tap from the penalty that resulted and moments later he’s backing up for the key try and 23-15.
(Photo by Getty Images)
The Reds scrum was a mess all night. What a difference it made when there was a rare stable platform.
Straight after half-time, centre Hamish Stewart used good scrum ball to pump a 50-22 kick. From a well-won lineout, winger Filipo Daugunu dashed over. Quality set piece ball can be used to work wonders.
The Reds were right in it there at 16-15 behind.
That had to be the start not the finish line.
A Tate McDermott kick was charged down, Lawson Creighton missed a go-ahead penalty goal, an overcomplicated lineout in the Crusaders’ 22 was bungled when McDermott was the trick target, another penalty was conceded in a mountainous count…those flawed moments add up.
The Reds can be proud of the sting they brought to this game. Props Harry Hoopert and Feao Fotuaika absolutely crunched No.8 Cullen Grace in one tackle.
Co-captain Liam Wright was gracious amid the pain of defeat: “I’m proud we rocked up to play and really stuck it to them for the first 50 minutes of so.
“We were outclassed from there. The limitation (for us) is the full 80.”
Wright struck the sore point of this whole second half of the season for the Reds.
They went 0-6 against Kiwi rivals when they could easily have beaten the Hurricanes and Chiefs and avoided a trip to Christchurch altogether.
Their season was way too patchy.
You can’t put on a super-slick set play for the Daugunu try with McDermott, Stewart and Creighton repositioned for the passing interplay and then botch the simple stuff.
The Suliasi Vunivalu try had just as much wow factor with a great finish from the convert from the NRL. He did his specialist thing – find a way to fend off a defender and ground the ball in the tackle of another.
What he doesn’t yet do is get rugby’s finer points. He runs too high when first receiver off scrums. The English would hold him up and earn turnovers if he ever did that in a July Test.
His clearing kick was never on and was charged down.
He’s still a work in progress. The joy was watching fellow winger Filipo Daugunu at full blast for the first time since 2020.
He ran 14 times for 89m, beat six defenders, chased his kicks, scored a top try with a finger waggle and gave no ball away with the handling bloopers that have dogged him.
The Reds have to be honest in their post-mortem.
They should have made some strong recruiting calls when they were Super Rugby AU champions last year. They should have signed a top prop so they weren’t so Tupou-reliant and they should have worked on stronger lock depth.
Their Queensland-bred mantra is worthy but you do have to cherry-pick a star or two from elsewhere on the edges to make big steps ahead.
In the end, the Thorn play to hold back Fraser McReight and Hunter Paisami as impact weapons from the bench was as imperfect as feared.
The Reds were down 23-15 when flanker McReight, one of the Reds best all year, came on. He played only 23 minutes. He should have been straight on at 16-15.
Wallabies centre Paisami played even less for 18 minutes.
Fullback Jock Campbell always looked like he might shake a tackle. Crusaders fullback Will Jordan most often did. That’s a big difference when talking Test level. Jordan is wonderful to watch, a little Christian Cullen for those with fond memories of the 1990s and early 2000s.
You want Harry Wilson’s energy in every game. Fifteen ball carries and 14 tackles was another big shift but that effort has to convert to more ground gained. Just 25 running metres means he’s running hard but not with the deception to elude enough tacklers.
The last words…Richie Mo’unga.
He is such a star. A Mo’unga v Beauden Barrett (Blues) final is what Super Rugby Pacific needs if we can’t have a Brumbies or Waratahs title from the clouds.
A quick tap, sidestepping for a try, a booming 60m kick, poise, polish on just about every pass…he can take the Crusaders all the way.