The Queensland Reds can be justifiably proud of their come-from-behind win against the Brumbies Saturday, but the stirring performance in Canberra does not automatically elevate them to the mantle of Australia’s best Super Rugby team.
The Reds showed a lot of character to claw their way back from a 17-0 deficit to win 40-38, with a spectacular try to centre Jordan Petaia in the 79th minute in what was widely regarded as an Australian Super Rugby classic. But the Reds’ victory was built on the back of a scrum dominance that most probably would not have occurred if not for the fact the Brumbies’ front-row was decimated by suspension and injury.
The Brumbies entered the game without suspended captain and tight-head prop Allan Alaalatoa, veteran loose-head prop James Slipper and hooker Conal McInerney, albeit they were bolstered by the return of hooker Folau Faingaa. But when the Brumbies lost starting props Scott Sio and Tom Ross during the game they were reduced to a third-string front-row and the Reds rammed home the advantage in the scrum, piggybacking on penalties and tight-heads.
Significantly, the Reds out-scored the Brumbies 24-7 after Sio and Ross left the field early in the second-half. The total mismatch at scrum-time meant the Reds’ performance was inconclusive, perhaps even misleading and there are still areas of the Reds’ game that can be improved on.
To achieve maximum benefit from their potentially lethal backline, the Reds have to reduce their high rate of handling errors, particularly unforced errors, which brings undone so much good work. A lot of the Reds’ play-making responsibility falls onto the shoulders of five-eighth and stand-in captain James O’Connor. They need another ball-player to take pressure off O’Connor and give themselves more options in attack.
If the Reds are to take their attacking game to another level, they must upskill inside-centre Hunter Paisami and turn him into Queensland’s version of former All Black Ma’a Nonu. Paisami is a powerful ball-runner who can get the Reds over the advantage line, but he also possesses good, but largely undeveloped, ball-playing skills. If Paisami can become a ball-distributor in the mould of Nonu, who combined power with a high level of skill, he could potentially expand the Reds’ game to a whole new dimension.
Are the Reds there yet? Not yet, but they are edging closer. There was much to admire about the way they stuck to their guns and eked out a dramatic win in Canberra where the Brumbies are so hard to beat. A team must possess a certain amount of self-belief to be able to do that and that is something Reds coach Brad Thorn has clearly instilled into his players.
A common-sense coach such as Thorn is unlikely to allow his team to get ahead of themselves and his ability to keep the players grounded will be crucial to how they perform for the rest of the season. They must now overcome a fatal flaw in the Australian rugby character and back up a good performance with another when they play the Western Force in Brisbane on Saturday night.
The Force are coming off an uninspiring 10-7 loss to the Melbourne Rebels in Perth last Friday night in a game that was played at a much lower standard to the Brumbies-Reds match. But the Force will pose a potential sand-trap for Queensland if the Reds get too carried away with their win against the Brumbies.
The Rebels will be looking to continue to expand their game when they host the NSW Waratahs in Melbourne on Friday night. After playing a limited brand of rugby in their narrow losses to the Reds and the Brumbies, the Rebels played with more ambition against the Force, playing with the ball in hand and using the width of the field.
In a short season the Rebels effectively started on a handicap with a bye in the first round as well as injuries to several starters, including Isi Naisarani and Dane Haylett-Petty. With players returning from injury, the Rebels are clearly trying to add to their gameplan, but it is sometimes difficult to flick the switch to vaudeville without making mistakes. If the Rebels can match ambition with skill, they should be too good for a Waratahs side that is likely to complete the season winless.
It looks as if Super Rugby AU has split into a two-tiered competition with the Brumbies and the Reds playing at a different level to the Rebels, Force and Waratahs. The Brumbies and the Reds could probably compete with any of the New Zealand teams with the possible exception of the Crusaders, who are in a league of their own.
Whether the Brumbies can maintain their place at the top of Australian Super Rugby will depend largely on how quickly their injured front-rowers return to play. They might be able to cope with the Rebels, Force and Waratahs without their full contingent in the front-row, but not the Reds. If the two sides meet again at full-strength in the finals, it will be a much different game to Saturday night’s, and that would probably favour the Brumbies, although at this point no one really knows for sure.
