Opinion
The Queensland Reds scrum fades from a feared armoured truck to a 2008 Corolla with bad suspension and a bung wheel when Taniela Tupou is missing.
That’s nothing against the old Corolla. It’s a reliable fave in Australia but it just doesn’t have the gargantuan grunt of a scrum with TUPOU as the number plate.
We are at an interesting stage of Super Rugby Pacific when the big dogs of the competition will have more and more to say on how the season pans out.
The Reds might cover losing James O’Connor and now Hunter Paisami. Being without 130kg-plus of scrum destroyer is a different story altogether for Friday night’s game against the Highlanders at Suncorp Stadium.
The Crusaders aren’t the same side without Richie Mo’unga. That is a fact. Not having him for the loss against the inspired NSW Waratahs definitely tightened that clash last weekend.
The last month of the season is when the big dogs rule like Carlos Spencer in the 1996-96 and 2003 seasons for the Blues, Mo’unga over recent seasons or the Quade Cooper-Will Genia axis to the Reds’ 2011 triumph. Or Fourie du Preez in the champion Bulls sides.
Plenty of former All Blacks in the media drone on about Super Rugby not having the gravitas it once did.
When part of your season plan is to find times to rest the biggest headliners in the comp like Mo’unga, Sam Cane, Aaron Smith and others, there’s a big reason right there.
Getting back on topic, the chase for finals spots is quite intense.
There’s actually two finals races in progress. There’s the one for the top four because it carries one of the great bonuses of Super Rugby … a home quarter-final with all revenue going to the host side.
The other race is the limp into eighth spot. The Melbourne Rebels (3-7), Western Force (2-7) and Highlanders (2-8) are vying for the eighth and final play-off spot with records you’d more likely see for teams in the relegation zone.
The comforting fact there is that the team that does grab eighth spot will need a surge to 6-8 record at least. That’s suitable enough to counter the grenades from blinkered NRL-ville types who will say an eight-team finals series for a 12-team comp is a joke.
Back in 2007, the Brisbane Broncos reached the NRL top eight with an 11-13 record. Same-same.
If anything, rugby is making up for those early Super 12 years when a four-team finals series from 12 teams might not have rewarded enough teams.
The absence of prop Tupou is going to really hurt the Reds over the final four rounds. They have extremely tough games on the road against the Blues (May 14) and the Crusaders (May 27).
As it looks, the fifth-placed Reds could enter the play-offs in fifth or sixth spot depending on whether they beat the Highlanders or Moana Pasifika or both.
That will either pitch them into a quarter-final on Kiwi soil or a possible all-Aussie quarter-final against the Brumbies in Canberra.
It’s not just Tupou missing from the Reds front-row. They are minus two tightheads and their top two hookers.
The strain to Tupou’s massive calf comes on top of Zane Nonggorr being gone for the rest of the Super Rugby season with knee ligament damage. Hookers Alex Mafi and Josh Nasser are also sidelined.
That’s why the SOS went out for journeyman Albert Anae, 32 and with more clubs in his bag than Tiger Woods.
He can play both prop and hooker. He actually looks fit and capable of reprising that bench role he had at the Reds from 2011 to 2014.
All teams have to be flexible at this stage of the season. The Reds went into last round’s clash against the Chiefs with a heavy emphasis on kicking and did so twice as often (32) compared to a week earlier (15) against the Hurricanes.
On Friday night, they have to kick far less, certainly that aimless stuff when near halfway has to disappear. They have to run and unleash “Juli.”
That’s not our term, that’s the tongue-tied invention of Reds back Jock Campbell who accidentally welded Jordan Petaia and Suli Vunivalu together. It’s a good one.
The Reds need them to become a power couple like “Pooper” when David Pocock and Michael Hooper were winning World Cup games in 2015 in England.
That’s 160 running metres and 15-plus ball carries from “Juli” or it’s curtains against the Highlanders.
Since his return from a major hamstring injury, Vunivalu has clung to his wing like an uncertain youngster attending prep for the first time with a comfort toy.
He has to roam a little. He needs to catch a high ball on attack and get some confidence. He needs to spin his wheels and run.
Should the Reds find a way to win this one against the Highlanders, it will be one of their grittiest since 14 Queenslanders won over the Stormers in Cape Town in 2003.
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