Written Sunday 04/02/2007

REDS SHOW SOME CHARACTER IN WIN,  KEY IS TO REPORDUCE

It was ugly,  but it is what we have all been waiting for,  a Reds win,  an ugly win,  but underpinned by some accurate and precise physicality,  and some tactical nous,  some correct decision making. 

The game started with the Reds having all the ball,  and visiting the Hurricanes area 4 times in the first 15 minutes and coming away from those four visits with 2 penalty goals from 3 attempts.  That is a good result given the rubbish we are used to seeing the Reds dish up.  So they went,  they scored,  they regrouped and went again.  The kicks weren't easy,  Shifcoske,  had a solid debut,  not spectacular,  but he can kick for goal,  very,  very well,  and ad the end of the night had nailed down 6 from 8.

Then at the 15 minute mark,  the Reds fell apart and let the possession flow run with the Hurricanes.  Seemingly one thought,  the times of old had returned.  The Hurricanes banged over a penalty and missed a few,  threatened the tryline briefly a couple of times.

To their credit,  the Reds regained composure,  and strung together a long period of possession in the Hurricanes zone, Tune almost scored after a great pass from Barnes.  Chapman eventually did score after a Barnes cross kick to space in the Red Zone saw Chapman take the catch and flop over to score.

At halftime the Reds would have been happy with their physical presence,  their accuracy and precision in defence.  Horwill had been sent to the bin with 3 minutes to go,  but I wasn't worried about that,  because these guys were really muscling up and belting all and sundry in a yellow jersey,  competing really hard at the ruck,  and Kaplan hammered both sides at the ruck for infringements.

The second half rolled out,  and the QR Queensland Reds controlled most of it,  and controlled it well.  The Reds looked like they might bag a 5 pointer a couple of times during the half,  the Hurricanes did score one late in the half,  one of those typical break outs you expect from sides with Umaga,  Nonu and Conrad Smith.

At 22 to 9 and with 15 to go,  the Reds looked to have it in the bag,  before Barnes dropped a medium range field goal from deep in the pocket to surely secure it.

The final score was 25 to 16,  and the Reds would be disappointed in letting in that try.  However what they would be happy about was the way they went about their work.  Their defence was brutal.  McMeniman,  my player of the night was huge delivering some fantastic carries,  but belting the Hurricanes at every opportunity.  Peter Ryan would have loved his offensive and abrasive work.  On three occasions he left bruised Kiwi warriors requiring attention on the ground,  standing over the last one in a dominant pose.  He was lucky to not see the bin,  maybe a Red for one early hit with no arms on Jimmy Gopperth.  There was plenty of niggle,  plenty of passion.  The Reds back 5 were really,  really good and surely should all be considered for Wallaby duties.  I don't care about his size,  Roe is the best number 8 in the country at the moment,  he is non stop,  and offers workrates in defence and close and wide attack,  plus a  distribution and kicking game.  McMeniman,  provided he stays injury free will wear gold with a number under 8 and above 3,  probably not 7.  Horwill looked ready and Croft seemed to offer alot more than Smith is currently and Waugh did in South Africa.  Toss a coin amongst those three but don't forget Crofty.  Chapman,  Horwill,  McMeniman and Holmes offer a bit of grit,  a bit of starch,  a bit of in your face play,  no backward steps here.

The game moving to uncontested scrums in the second half,  3 minutes in because the Hurricanes ran out of props was a joke,  and takes alot away from the game.  I find it strange in this day and age,  in a side like the Hurricanes that had two 100 kilo hookers,  that one of them is unable to play prop.  Hooker is much harder to play than loosehead and about the same as tight head.  I think it is an easy out when you don't want to have contested scrums any more,  something the law makers need to look at.

Nick Berry was a live wire last night,  he is small but effervescent.  Barnes was hot and cold,  when he is hot he is very good.  At 15 years of age I rated him the best footballer I had ever seen.  Instructions to him should be simple,  just go out and play,  be yourself,  express yourself.  I think he needs to regain some confidence.  He did some very good things last night.

I was very impressed with Andrew Brown,  his defence was superb,  bashing Nonu behind the gain line a number of times.  In fact the whole Reds line speed and urgency in defence all night was very good.

Tune seems primed for a big season,  his last.  He looks fit and we know he is playing with some pain.  He has been a great servant to Qld and Aussie rugby and there have been few more entertaining wingers when he was in his prime.  Let's hope he can get through injury free and have a strong year.

The Reds have now put step one in place.  We can only hope that they continue to put the blocks in place to what will be remembered as a successful season.  They don't necessarily have to win the competition to be successful in 2007,  but they need to show some real toughness,  mental and physical and continue to stand up and be counted.

Some interesting crowd stuff last night that I will write about later.

Trample the Weak,  Hurdle the Dead