Reds vs Sunwolves: Five things we learned

Fri, May 3, 2019, 1:23 PM
Emma Greenwood
by Emma Greenwood
Taniela Tupou takes the ball forward for the Reds in their clash against the Sunwolves. Photo: Getty Images
Taniela Tupou takes the ball forward for the Reds in their clash against the Sunwolves. Photo: Getty Images

The Reds clawed their way to a 32-26 win over the Sunwolves in an at-times bizarre game at Suncorp Stadium that keeps alive their hopes of playing Super Rugby finals.

Here's what we're talking about after the match.

1. A win is a win

The Reds would have been eyeing off a bonus point against the Sunwolves after the Japanese side's flogging last week but will be glad to have come away with the win after the way they played in the first half of what turned out to be one of the more bizarre games in Super Rugby history. With six cards handed out to the teams, gaining any kind of momentum or flow was difficult. But winning ugly can be better than playing flowing rugby and losing, and as Thorn pointed out on Friday night, it's better than losing ugly.

The four points are invaluable for the Reds, who skip to second place on the Australian ladder and keep their season alive ahead of matches against the Rebels and Waratahs in the next two weeks that will determine whether they play finals for the first time since 2013.

 

2. The set piece has become an issue for the Reds

Much has been made of the Reds' strength at the scrum but their set pieces were poor against the Sunwolves and desperately need to improve if they are to become a finals force. The Reds conceding scrums against the feed and scrum penalties and the rest of their set pieces were just as shaky.

Poor work at the lineout and maul led to turnovers in an area the Reds expected to dominate this season. The forwards are doing plenty of the hard things right, but like so many areas of the Reds' game, it's the little things that are letting them down. Using the scrum as the first penalty option must be reviewed.

3. Suncorp crowds on life support

Just 8600 diehard fans turned out for Friday night's clash in dire scenes for the Reds. The Sunwolves don't drive crowds in Australia and in the cavernous Suncorp Stadium, the numbers look even worse. But if the Reds can keep up their winning ways, they should start to turn the corner.

Their next home game is against the Waratahs in a fortnight and if they are in contention to top the Aussie conference, there is no reason they should not be able to draw 30,000 to Suncorp for the traditional clash. It would be a marked improvement on any crowd this season and would breathe life into a code that will continue to suffer in Queensland without results on the board.

Stop Samu Kerevi, you stop the Reds. Photo: Getty Images

4. Stop Kerevi, stop the Reds

Sunwolves coach Tony Brown admitted his team's plan was to stop Reds talisman Samu Kerevei - something they did particularly effectively in the first half. "Our plan 100 per cent was to stop him - if you stop him, you stop their game, we just couldn't quite do it long enough," Brown said.

Kerevi has been the form centre in Australia this season and among the best in Super Rugby and his fortunes are directly linked to those of the Reds. It's a game plan other teams are likely to copy as Kerevi leads by example.

5. Simple errors killing the Reds

Penalties, cards and offside play notwithstanding, the Reds were under pressure because they could not execute the most simple skills under pressure. Dropping the ball cold, throwing intercept passes and failing to call for the ball are basics of the game and they're breaking down for the Reds at the worst possible times.

There's no point in having a brilliant scrum or outstanding backline move if players can't execute their catch-pass-kick skills properly. Mistakes will always happen but they're happening too often for the Reds to be an effective unit. The Rebels and Waratahs will punish similar errors severely.

 

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