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James O'Connor injury scare sours Reds win
By AAP
James O'Connor's latest injury setback has soured a Queensland Reds win that snapped a four-game Super Rugby Pacific losing streak.
The Reds stuttered their way to a 34-22 victory over the last-placed Moana Pasifika at Suncorp Stadium on Friday.
A try in the 80th minute for Pasifika No.8 Henry Time-Stowers looked to have robbed the Reds of a bonus point, crucial in their tight fight with the NSW Waratahs for sixth spot.
That eventually proved to be the case, but not before what appeared to be a brilliant 80 metre team try finished by captain Tate McDermott was overturned due to a forward pass.
At one point playing with two less players after Matt Faessler and Fraser McReight were sin-binned for repeat infringements, the Reds were sweating as Pasifika moved to 22-15 with the first try after the break.
But a Jock Campbell double, well-deserved five-pointers to Harry Hoopert and Fraser McReight and a late intercept try for Harry Wilson was enough for th e Reds (7-5).
O'Connor's exit with 20 minutes to play was a worry though, particularly for Wallabies coach Dave Rennie as he watched from the sidelines ahead of July's England Test series.
The No.10 had only returned from a knee injury last week and was again grimacing as he felt around that area, applying ice to his lower hamstring as he called it a night.
At best it would leave the crucial playmaker in doubt for the trip to face the Crusaders next week, with a quarter-final against either the Brumbies or the same opponents to follow a week later.
Reds' centre Josh Flook also had his bright performance ruined by a painful shoulder injury, the youngster needing the green whistle as he was taken from the field late in the contest.
Pasifika enforcer Timoci Tavatavanawai wreaked havoc with ball in hand, brushing off McDermott with a huge fend.
But McDermott didn't flinch, stopping the winger's next run in another captain's knock for the hosts.
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Latest Comments
Not if England are going to give him a couple o appearances a year for a 200k top up, he won’t need to break into the top group. This is not the ABs in more ways than just England matching them in loose fowards.
His skill set will be unique though!
Go to commentsThe extent to which rugby pundits in NZ rely on their rose tinted spectacles really baffles me. Anton Lienert-Brown has been a good but nothing more player for a few seasons now. For an experienced player he gives a maddening amount of penalties and yellow cards too so I don’t give him any credit for all that experience.
If you had a clean slate and knew nothing about history, the guy wouldn’t be anywhere near people’s choice for 13 (or 12) if you only watch super rugby the last couple of seasons. Bailyn Sullivan / Billy Proctor / AJ Lam / Tavatavanawai to just just a few have all looked miles better than ALB.
How on earth does that end up with people saying he should be in the squad let alone starting. We have to move on from these type of players - he was never a great player and we have so many alternate options.
There is a group of mediocre players that we need to clear out, or at least try other options. We know how limited that group are, now is the time to see if some other talent can step up (the time was last year, but anyway…).
Jacobson, ALB, Papali’i, Christie, Lord, Havili, Reece. Just move on from them all and try for some upside. Thank god Cane/Perenara have finally moved on because they were in this camp too.
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