A top 10 hit is money in the bank for a singer. The dire Top 10 for ill-discipline is a broken record that needs urgent fixing by the Queensland Reds.
Co-captain Liam Wright explained on Wednesday that the Reds were past general warnings about cutting penalties and the major culprits had been addressed personally.
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Wright said “a line in the sand” had been drawn this week to correct the repetitive ball-and-chain on the team’s performances.
The shake-up on discipline will have to be heeded for the Reds to challenge the champion Crusaders in Friday night’s feature clash at Suncorp Stadium.
When confronted with the form guide that forwards Ryan Smith and Dane Zander were the most penalised players (nine apiece) in Super Rugby Pacific, Wright didn’t baulk.
“We’ve got a lot of guys tracking towards the top of the most penalised players in the comp. We’ve had to have some honest and confronting conversations this week,” Wright said.
Winger Filipo Daugunu (six) is also a Top 10 offender while forwards Harry Wilson and Seru Uru have both given away five penalties in five rounds.
“We’ve seen the list. Perhaps, we’ve been too general in the past with messaging around ‘cut out the silly penalties’ without addressing the issue, the where and when and the players,” Wright said.
“Sometimes you can just say ‘Aw, I gave away one or two’ but the stats don’t lie. We’ve not fixed the problem (with penalties) over the past few years.
“We’ve got to erase the silly ones. We can cop some for playing hard and pushing the limits at the breakdown but silly offsides, not rolling away, high tackles and so on are giving other sides a roll on at our cost.
“We’ve drawn a line in the sand and not accepting it anymore.”
Prop Zander has been in the hot seat at scrum time so that is some explanation. He has been demoted to the bench on Friday with Fijian Peni Ravai now starting.
Smith’s case is the grating one. The Australia A lock has been the Reds best tight forward and plays with a damaged collarbone every game.
His yellow card for interference against the Hurricanes in Round One and last weekend’s jersey-grab interference that scuttled Tate McDermott’s touchdown into a “no try” against the Melbourne Rebels were both poor, artless actions.
The Reds produced one of their best performances of the Brad Thorn era when going toe-to-toe with the Crusaders in Christchurch early in 2020.
They scored four tries to three and played physical, exhilarating rugby in a 24-20 spectacle.
The gap has got wider not closer in three losses since, the reckless 63-28 collapse to an inspired Richie Mo’unga and co in Brisbane in 2021 and the 28-15 and 37-15 defeats to end 2022.
“The Crusaders have been the benchmark for the last five or six years. We really want to test ourselves and get a measure of where our season is at,” Wright said.
“When we’ve done well against the Crusaders, it’s been about playing physical and holding our own at set piece.
“We were poor on defence against the Rebels (when conceding six tries). We know we have to lift it defensively.”
The Reds’ vaunted defence has conceded 20 tries in five games which will have coach Brad Thorn gnashing his teeth.
Guiding the Reds against the Crusaders he once played for is always a special week for Thorn.
“He’s very excited, no doubt because of the history but also the opportunity it poses to right some wrongs,” Wright said.
“Getting in the right mindset is one of his specialities.”
The knee injury to Wallaby Hunter Paisami means Isaac Henry is starting at inside centre.
In the early game, the Reds women’s team will take on the Western Force.
Reds skipper Shannon Parry said she expected a physical effort from the Force and the Reds to keep showing the benefits of their improved fitness.
REDS (1-15): Peni Ravai, Matt Faessler, Zane Nonggorr, Ryan Smith, Seru Uru, Liam Wright (co-c) Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Tate McDermott, James O’Connor, Jordan Petaia, Isaac Henry, Josh Flook, Suliasi Vunivalu, Jock Campbell
RESERVES: Richie Asiata, Dane Zander, Phransis Sula-Siaosi, Angus Blyth, Jake Upfield, Kalani Thomas, Taj Annan, Mac Grealy
