1
'Reality check': Pressure growing for Thorn after Reds demoralised by another NZ side
The Queensland Reds opened up with a 13-6 lead over the Hurricanes before a second half blitz by the visitors consigned the home side to a deflating 47-13 loss in Townsville.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Reds were well and truly in the game at halftime down by three at 16-13 but even the sticky heat and humidity couldn’t prevent a collapse.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones was in attendance but fans have already started drawing conclusions that the Queenslanders will not have many selections in Jones’ squad.
The pressure on head coach Brad Thorn also was a focus, who after five years into his tenure has not yet found an answer for the Kiwi sides.
The 2021 Super Rugby AU champions went from Australian champs to 7th in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman that year with one win from five.
In 2022 the Reds came close to defeating the Chiefs but then went on winless run losing all five clashes with New Zealand teams, including a quarter-final exit at the hands of the Crusaders.
Their first effort in 2023 followed a similar line of results.
Australian rugby journalist Sam Phillips called the Reds opening performance ‘deadset deplorable’ while others blamed a failure to develop a set-piece as the Reds major shortcoming.
ADVERTISEMENT
That was deadset deplorable from the Reds. Coach on the ropes after a few weeks type stuff#REDvHUR
— Sam Phillips (@samphillips06) February 25, 2023
Eddie Jones didn’t even get the not pad out. Brumbies/Tahs Wallabies team this years. #REDvHUR
— rahgby (@rahgby1) February 25, 2023
The thing I love about rugby is despite all law changes & coaching innovations if you don’t have a good set piece you can’t win
Thorn et al failing to develop this over 5 years (other than Tupou playing 80mins) is a terrible failure of tenure at @Reds_Rugby #redvhur #SuperRugby— D r Rea (@drrea81) February 25, 2023
Oh what another dumb unnecessary undisciplined penalty. Just like with Rennie has been an issue for a long time with Reds under Thorn and never improved. #REDvHUR
— Bart Willis (@bartinoheat) February 25, 2023
ADVERTISEMENT
This is a carbon copy of every Reds game v kiwis over the last period of time. It’s always the same. Yet, their fans will moan they don’t get more players in the wallabies. They make way too many errors. They aren’t physical enough. #REDVHUR
— Matt McGoldrick (@goldust02) February 25, 2023
Apparently it's a 1327km walk from Townsville to Ballymore.
Will need players to confirm this when they eventually get back.#REDvHUR— Steve Lenthall (@steve_l15) February 25, 2023
Missing Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou, who is sidelined with injury and has signed with the Melbourne Rebels for next season, the Reds got a taste of life without Tupou against the Hurricanes front row featuring two All Black veterans in Owen Franks and Dane Coles.
Reds captain Tate McDermott called the loss a ‘reality check’ and a continuation of the issues that have plagued the side in the past.
“I guess for us, probably a bit of a reality check,” Reds captain Tate McDermott told Stan Sport.
“At least we know where we are now and we’ve got to get back on the horse. So very disappointing. A bit of a broken record for us, really, discipline and not holding the ball and also not making tackles.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
69 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
2 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
69 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
2 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to commentslooking forward to RWC2027 …. Boks on mission impossible for the Three-in-a-row, ABs to prove they being on par, France wishing to crown the “DuPont-era”, Ireland knocking on the Semi-Door ….. until then we’ll probably have to deal with Weird Ben’s fantasy-RWC23 (fun fact is, the drivel always creates a flooding of comments) …..
223 Go to commentsBen Smith you really make some good points in this article, the Springboks were not close to perfect and good still beat the All Blacks, imagine if they were as good as they were against France what a hiding the All Blacks would have gotten… maybe another Twickenham drubbing
223 Go to commentsIt is a good argument to keep the Rebels for one more year but also isnt this just opening the door as well for keeping them beyond 2025. If they can create some sort of financial stability in the next year and if their performances lift as they have this season then how would RA even cull them after that? It might be the most cost effective decision at this stage and perhaps many people are guilty of keeping relationships going because of the cost to decouple but then again when does that ever work out well?
29 Go to comments