Les Kiss hypes battle of star opensides in pivotal Hurricanes clash

Their hopes of a home play-off all but shot, the Queensland Reds are backing returning Wallabies captain Harry Wilson to fire the side back into Super Rugby title contention.

The fourth-placed Reds host the fifth-placed Hurricanes on Friday night in a high-stakes encounter in Brisbane that could well decide both sides’ semi-final fate.

Despite needing a minor miracle to reel in the third-placed Crusaders over the last two rounds, the Reds will still be favoured to reach the grand final qualifier if they topple the Hurricanes at Suncorp Stadium.

Under the new six-team finals format, the highest-ranked losing side in the opening week of the play-offs will progress to the semi-finals.

That leaves the Reds with plenty to play for after a deflating derby defeat to the ACT Brumbies in Canberra.

“Every game’s been pretty crucial for the last three weeks. This is no different, so the boys are focused,” Reds coach Les Kiss said on Thursday.

“We’re playing the 80 minutes very strong. We’re finishing probably stronger than most other teams at the moment. We’re just not nailing a couple of little things.”

Wilson has missed Queensland’s past five games, of which the Reds won only two, and Kiss can’t overstate the flanker’s importance ahead of what shapes as a fierce back-row battle.

“It’s a pretty good Hurricanes back row, but we’ve got Harry,” Kiss said.

“I dare say that’s going to be a fairly critical part of the game.

“They’re dangerous across the park. They’re a young team who, like us, are prepared to back their skill set.

“It’s going to be a fantastic game to watch but, yeah, we certainly have to be aware of (Hurricanes flanker Du’Plessis) Kirifi and co.

“Fraser (McReight) got three or four turnovers last week, so I’m looking forward to that battle.”

Kiss conceded the Reds had been frustrated at their inability to close out several tight contests this campaign but hoped to hit the finals running after following up Friday’s match with another home clash with the Fijian Drua.

“You can get down lost in a cul-de-sac of doom, but these boys, they don’t do that,” he said.

“They just want to get onto the next solution and look for that. So we’ve worked smart and hard. We’ve had one training session this week to work through that.

“We’ve got a pretty dynamic team we’re coming up against, so we have to be better than we have been, that’s for sure.”