The small details that cost the Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds put up a brave fight and almost came away with a win over the Hurricanes, going down 38-34.
They never gave up and managed to get back in the game every time that it looked like slipping away. At times they made some brilliant decisions, and at other times they made some mind-numbingly stupid ones. It’s the lack of fundamental rugby ‘smarts’ that continually cost the Reds, and we only have to look four minutes to find one that costs them 7 points.
Here, camped deep in their own half the Reds setup to exit with a clearing kick directly after winning a turnover.
The Reds forwards don’t seem to be aware of where their kicker is, setting up on the other side. Jono Lance calls for Duncan Paia’aua to take the kick as he can’t from behind the posts. The forwards don’t hear the call and the Reds give the Hurricanes an invitation to cause chaos. Paia’aua, with no protection, doesn’t think about giving himself more room to kick.
The ensuing charge down forces Jono Lance to clean up the loose ball. He is tackled in-goal and gives the Hurricanes a 5-metre scrum.
The Reds manage to hold up debutant Peter Umaga-Jensen over the line on the first scrum move, giving the Hurricanes another midfield scrum.
We covered this exact situation in depth in the pre-season here – how the Hurricanes expose sliding defences by getting Beauden Barrett matched up with a halfback one-on-one.
By stacking three defenders on the blind side to cover two backs, the Reds defensive setup guarantees that Beauden Barrett will get the ball. The Hurricanes have been given a 4-on-3 overlap to the open side with BEN LAM, the best finisher in Super Rugby, left open unmarked.
To cover the open side overlap, the Reds are going to try and use a sliding defence with the halfback Ben Lucas defending off base to take Barrett. However, the Reds could cover every player man-for-man as their fullback Hamish Stewart has to defend on the try line. They have no need to put an extra defender (Jono Lance) on the blind slide in this situation.
Why give the Hurricanes a guaranteed overlap on the open side to exploit? Playing man-on-man forces them to create an overlap first. At least make them work for it.
Lucas confirms with Kerevi one last time they are actually going to try and slide out to defend the overlap, giving Barrett an open look at the try line with no body-on-body defender.
The chances of covering Barrett less than ten metres out with this strategy must be extremely close to zero percent. TJ Perenara just needs to hold Lucas up an inch and Barrett will be able to score in his attempted sliding tackle. He doesn’t need to burn him completely, basically just get level with him on the outside and momentum will take him over. With Kerevi drifting, this hole should stay as wide as it looks above.
As Perenara feeds the scrum, he calls for “runners, runners, runners”, a play change on the fly that calls for the backs to just find a hole. Perenara will become the playmaker and Barrett and everyone else will run lines in gaps and he will pick one.
As the play unfolds Kerevi senses the danger posed by Barrett’s line and breaks protocol immediately, flying in to shut down Barrett while Lucas stays on his original assignment. TJ Perenara could potentially dummy and go himself or hit Umaga-Jensen long for a walk-in try. He probably takes the more difficult option now that Barrett has two closing in on him.
Barrett senses Kerevi in his peripheral vision and expertly adjusts his line, bouncing out at the same time Perenara releases his pass. Kerevi is caught out and ends up impeding Lucas slightly from making a genuine tackle attempt, a comical misjudgment.
Barrett is nearly held up over the line but manages to reach out and score.
The frustrating thing is it’s self-imposed sabotage– stacking the odds against yourself through ill-thought-out planning and preparation. In two poor plays, the Reds conceded seven points and ended up losing the game by four. There are plenty of instances that you can look back on during a game and fix purely through better strategic preparation.
It does make you question what actually happens when Australian teams review their performances on a Monday. If they can improve the small details, it won’t be 40 losses before their next win against a New Zealand side.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
2 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
2 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
10 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
10 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
10 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
3 Go to commentsThe Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
3 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
3 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
3 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
3 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to comments