A freak lineout injury at training has left co-captain Liam Wright with a broken hand and the Queensland Reds scrambling to fill the holes in their pack.
The bad news about flanker Wright at Wednesday’s session at Ballymore has been magnified by lock Seru Uru (concussion), lock Angus Blyth (suspension) and centre Isaac Henry (hamstring) also being ruled out this week.
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Fielding a patched-up pack is the last thing the Reds need heading into a daunting Friday clash in Apia where Moana Pasifika will be playing in front of their Samoan fans for the first time.
Wright copped an accidental whack from prop Zane Nonggorr’s hand guard when going up in a lineout. An X-ray revealed the damage before his teammates had finished training.
It might be best that Wright gives lineout training a miss altogether because landing ackwardly in a pre-match warm-up cost him a chunk of games last year.
The Reds have had to remodel their pack with Ryan Smith and recalled Connor Vest as the new lock pairing.
Bond University’s 1.98m Jake Upfield is the new blindside flanker and will have his first start for the Reds after 71 minutes in cameos off the bench in 2023.
He’s not a bullocking ball-runner, rather an efficient carter with good lineout skills, a strong work ethic and good hands.
It again leaves the Reds fielding a tight five without a Wallaby and just two Wallabies in the pack with workaholic backrow pair Harry Wilson and Fraser McReight.
When Henry’s hamstring did not prove up to it at the start of Thursday’s session, the call was made to promote experienced Wallaby James O’Connor to inside centre.
He trained there for the session outside Lawson Creighton and fit-again Tom Lynagh, the one positive piece of injury news because he’ll return via the bench after missing three games because of concussion.
Halfback Tate McDermott will lead the Reds in Apia and his eyes are wide open to a challenge far greater than meeting a team with a 0-7 record.
“Moana Pasifika will be up for it. We know they’ll grow an extra leg playing in front of their home crowd in Samoa for the first time,” McDermott warned.
“We know just from playing the Fijian Drua in Fiji during the days of the National Rugby Championship how big an event this will be on Friday.”
McDermott said getting the Reds’ game right came before anything.
“We were all very gutted by that result against the Brumbies (in last Friday’s 52-24 loss at Suncorp Stadium),” McDermott said.
“That’s our home turf. The Brumbies mauled us basically.
“It was a grim day reviewing but we had to accept the reality that we dished that up to 9000 Queenslanders in the crowd.
“It was un-Queenslander-like that performance, especially in the second half (a 31-7 Brumbies procession).
“We’ve stripped it back. A lot of the chat has been about what we want the Reds identity to be. You look at Reds teams we have been a part of in the past and, unfortunately, that’s almost unrecognisable.”
Reds defence coach Phil Blake has presided over 13 tries being given up in two losses to the Melbourne Rebels and Brumbies over the past month.
“We’ve let ‘Blakey’ down big time. We have to be accountable,” McDermott said.
“He’s given us the perfect framework to defend like a pack of dogs and we have gone away from it.
“This game will be massive. You give them a little line break here and there and they’ll feed off it with their fans in the background screaming.
“We‘ve got to make sure when we say we’re going to show up in defence, we just make sure we bring the dog out.
“If we put on the park what we did the last 40 (minutes) against the Brumbies, we’ll be on the plane with another cricket score. We have to be far better.”
McDermott said Brad Thorn had thrown himself into his coaching this week “after copping barbs from most angles.”
“It’s pretty unfair. You look at our organisation and he’s not solely responsible for it. There are so many other pieces that are responsible for the way the Reds are playing, the players, the extended staff. We all have to share it,” McDermott said.
The Reds are clinging to eighth with their shabby 2-5 record but there’ll be the grim prospect of the bottom four if they can’t pull out a big one on Friday.
REDS (1-15): Sef Fa'agase, Matt Faessler, Zane Nonggorr, Connor Vest, Ryan Smith, Jake Upfield, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Tate McDermott (c), Lawson Creighton, Jordan Ptaia, James O'Connor, Josh Flook, Suliasi Vunivalu, Jock Campbell
RESERVES: Richie Asiata, Peni Ravai, Phransis Sula-Siaosi, Lopeti Faifua, Connor Anderson, Kalani Thomas, Tom Lynagh, Taj Annan
