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It wasn’t pretty, but on a hot day in Brisbane, it was the Reds that managed to eke out an important 27-24 win over Fiji Drua on Sunday afternoon.
After opening up a 24-3 lead midway through the second half, Brad Thorn’s side switched off in the sapping heat and allowed the Drua to storm back into the match.
Two converted tries to the visitors cut the margin to a converted try, before a penalty from Tom Lynagh pushed the margin out to 10 points.
But Iosefo Masi’s try out wide and Frank Lomani’s conversion cut the margin to three points with eight minutes to go, leaving the Reds praying for full-time.
Eventually it came, as Filipo Daugunu got on the ball to win possession for the home side and repel the Drua once and for all.
“Relieved, frustrated,” captain Liam Wright described it. “Fiji were great today, as we thought they would be.
“I thought we had a really good game plan, which we could see the platform working that would put them to the sword a bit, we were up 24-3, as a result of that and I just thought our second half was a bit of collapse.
“Obviously huge credit to Fiji, they played the style of footy that they do in the environment that suits them and they get rewards for that.
“I think our learnings from that is just to be a smarter team. We can’t be the team that talks about shooting ourselves in the foot the whole time, so that was frustrating.”
Harry Wilson was the Reds’ best during their narrow win over Fiji Drua. Photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
The Reds’ second half fade out was reminiscent of their collapse against the Hurricanes in Townsville to start the year.
The home side had ample pressure in the first 60 minutes, but only had four tries to show for it.
In fact, Wright’s side left half-a-dozen opportunities out there as they failed to take advantage of a set-piece superiority through inaccuracies in the rolling maul transition and at the lineout.
The home side, too, were regularly pinged at the breakdown by a whistle-happy Reuben Keane, where an outrageous 33 penalties were blown.
Asked whether the mistakes was a mental issue for the home side, Wright said their sloppy finish came down to not executing.
“I hope not, I don’t think so. I just think it comes from simple, pressure-relieving moments,” he said.
“We miss a lineout on half-time, a lot of penalties for not rolling away for guys getting up in the channel there and Frank Lomani played really smart by throwing it into them.”
Josh Flook, who scored a simple double that should have been a fantastic first-half hat-trick had he not attempted James O’Connor’s chip kick with one hand, was equally blunt.
“Definitely a little bit of disappointment there,” he said.
“We had a good start, we put on some good tries there, but once again, same as last year, we let them back into the game. Silly penalties, let them play their style of footy and we made our own mistakes.
“I think it’s an attitude thing. We’re working hard during the week. It’s just when it comes to that game time, everyone’s getting a little bit too excited and we’ve just got to play smarter.”
Josh Flook scored a first-half double against the Drua on a hot Sunday afternoon in Brisbane. Photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
Fijian forward Meli Derenalagi lamented his side’s slow start.
“Mostly we lack focus in the first-half,” he said. “That’s what cost us in the first-half.
“Coming out in the second half, we were told to give our all. We knew the Queensland Reds would come out hard.
“We planned to play quick ball so we could move them around. But if we had done that from the first-half it would be a different result.”
Test back-rower Harry Wilson was the Reds’ best.
The off-contrast No.8 was the one ball-runner who powered over the gain line and didn’t spill the ball, while Ryan Smith put in a solid shift in the tight-five.
But even his frustrations were showing, as he later told Stan Sport that he almost came to “punches” with teammate – and good friend Fraser McReight – after a mix-up from a stolen lineout, which resulted in an offside after Wilson picked up the ball from an offside position after passing the ball into his star back-rower’s head.
Elsewhere, O’Connor had his moments and Flook was his regular consistent-self.
But there were stars on a dreadfully messy afternoon, which brought out the best in Fijian halfback Lomani.
After Lomani knocked over an early penalty, Flook’s double gave the Reds an ugly 12-3 lead at half-time, before it looked like the home side had finally found their groove in the second period after simple tries to Wilson and Vunivalu.
But Seru Uru’s yellow card, which came after three penalties close to the line, saw the forward sent to the sin bin and the Drua responded by two tries in 11 minutes.
Lynagh’s penalty calmed down proceedings, before Masi set up a thrilling finish.
Kalaveti Ravouvou attempts to break through James O’Connor’s tackle in Brisbane. Photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
But for all of the Drua’s endeavour, the home side snuck home to seal a relieving win.
The three-point win saw the Reds join the Crusaders on 10 points in sixth position, with an important match against the Rebels in Melbourne next Saturday to come.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.