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Reds rue squandered early chances in latest loss to the Crusaders
By AAP
The depleted Crusaders have made it 12 straight wins over the Queensland Reds, who are again counting the costs of unforced errors in a second-straight Super Rugby Pacific loss. The defending champions were missing a slew of A-listers headlined by David Havili, Sevu Reece, Jack Goodhue and Sam Whitelock.
But they didn't need them, the Reds squandering early chances to build a lead before falling 25-12 on Friday at Suncorp Stadium. It followed a frustrating loss to Melbourne Rebels, dropping the Reds to 2-4 this season.
Reds playmaker James O'Connor endured a night of mishaps that began early when his penalty kick for touch went dead in-goal. Demoted as kicker for goal, he watched replacement Isaac Henry go one-from-three before resuming the duties and hitting the post himself with a late penalty miss.
He also missed a tackle for the Crusaders' first try, gave possession away with some poor in-game kicking and failed to marshal his troops when the Reds did hold the ball. Winger Suliasi Vunivalu was also quiet in a 60-minute stint but, ahead of Sunday's squad announcement from new coach Eddie Jones, other Wallabies hopefuls did press reasonable cases.
Jordan Petaia was full of confidence in a season-best showing in a reminder of his worth, scoring a late try thanks to a neat grubber from Tate McDermott. The half-back came to life too, energetic with the ball as the Reds tried to play with pace and also bright in defence.
Flanker Harry Wilson was involved in everything in a busy first half, making two line breaks and creating opportunities the hosts were unable to take. They still only trailed 15-7 at half-time, McDermott finishing a neat play that began with O'Connor and Jock Campbell down the right flank.
Earlier, two breaks through the guts of the Reds defence led to tries for Crusaders' Leicester Fainga'anuku and Dom Gardiner. Willi Heinz scored first after the break for the visitors, the try standing despite replays suggesting the ball had been promoted to the line inside the ruck.
Petaia's try kept the Reds close but Richie Mo'unga kicked the Crusaders clear, the Reds butchering late chances to rescue a bonus point when they twice overplayed their hands to lose possession close to the line.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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