The Queensland Reds will curse this as another loss of their own making after a tame finish to the 27-19 loss to the Highlanders.
Against the under-performing Highlanders, this was the Reds to win when they jumped to a 12-0 lead.
So what went wrong tonight at Suncorp Stadium?
1 LOSING THE MONEY MINUTES
On match eve, fullback Jock Campbell identified the “money minutes”, 10 minutes either side of half-time, as a key area that the team had focused on improving.
Well, they didn’t. The Reds gave up a 12-0 lead to trail 13-12 through that period.
2 WASTING THE MANPOWER ADVANTAGE
The Reds know what it’s like to labour with 14 men. In this one, the Highlanders were down to 13 men with two yellow cards and on the back foot early.
Campbell shot through for a try almost immediately but the Reds will rue not capitalising more.
3 COPING WITHOUT TANIELA TUPOU
The Reds actually did pretty well at scrum time without rock Taniela Tupou. Losing another prop, Harry Hoopert, to illness on game day didn’t help and his starchy defence in the middle was definitely missed.
The Reds had already sent out an SOS for Albert Anae. The even later call-up brought Sef Fa’agase into the match day squad.
Both props revived their Reds’ careers are long absences with time off the bench.
4 SERU URU
The flanker was probably the Reds’ best with the way he ripped in for 80 minutes. He was dynamic, quick in his movements, dished off a few offloads and made more carries (14) than any player on the field.
The Reds really missed Harry Wilson for most of the second half. The crowd hushed when he didn’t move when his head hit the turf after being tackled.
A left-arm raise to the crowd as he went off on the medicab was reassuring.
The Reds had just uncorked one of their best moves of the night with halfback Tate McDermott scooting to the shortside and linking with winger Jordan Petaia.
Petaia got away down the left sideline and dabbed a nice little grubber infield which Wilson roped in. Being tackled into the turf ended the promising move as well.
5 HOME FINAL SHOT DISAPPEARS
That’s just about it for hosting a home quarter-final. Three losses to the Kiwis when having winning positions in all three has shot that down.
The Reds certainly did their part in dressing up this home game by turning the goalposts into oversized Star Wars lightsabres.
The goalposts lit up impressively in fluro lights after every try like the bails in T20 cricket.
The Reds got the jump on the NRL who might have been imagined a debut for the new goalposts in Magic Round.
