McKenzie sees a way out of mire
The Queensland Reds, who endured a disappointing end to their two-game Super Rugby tour of South Africa, will hope to put their campaign back on track when they meet the Western Force in Perth in Saturday.
It brought to an end the Reds recent run of successes against the three-time champion Bulls, as the defending champions left the Republic with just a solitary bonus point.
The Bulls proved far too strong at their Loftus Versfeld fortress at the weekend – scoring their first victory over the Reds since 2009, after the Queenslanders were successful in 2011 (39-30) and 2010 (19-12), both matches in Brisbane.
However, the Reds’ last five visits to Pretoria resulted in comprehensive defeats – conceding 257 points (at an average of 51 points per match) and scoring just 57 (11 points per match).
It was one-way traffic at Loftus, as the Bulls smashed an interesting record.
It’s the biggest defeat ever by any defending champion and also the joint-seventh biggest victory in this competition.
The home side scored eight tries – seven of those coming in the second half – against a depleted Reds side that struggled with the physicality and intensity displayed by the Bulls.
The Reds’ defence was also not up to scratch as they recorded their biggest defeat since the final round robin match of 2007, when they were also slaughtered by the Bulls in Pretoria (92-3).
It was also the Bulls’ biggest victory since that day at Loftus Versfeld and the ninth time since they won the title for the first time in 2007 that they scored 50 points.
Despite the defeats on tour and an ever-growing injury list, Reds coach Ewen McKenzie held out hope of a swift change in fortunes.
“A week is a long time in this sport … it doesn’t mean we have to give up. We won’t be giving up,” McKenzie told AAP.
“We’ll take stock and dust ourselves off and keep going.
“We’re not going to die in a ditch. It’s not our finest hour, but it’s not the end of the competition either.”
After losing their two playmakers – Mike Harris and Ben Lucas – in Durban early through injury, they were unable to stop the Sharks from overhauling them last weekend. And seven days on, a makeshift backline was no match for the Bulls who were right on top of their game.
And the injuries just keep coming for the Reds, with centre Jono Lance fracturing his leg in the second half, forcing Wallabies No.8 Radike Samo to play in the midfield for the final minutes of the game.
Wallaby hooker Saia Faingaa joins the long line of wounded after damaging his ankle.
While short of player numbers, Reds coach Ewen McKenzie refused to use it as an excuse for one of the team’s worst recent losses.
”We let ourselves down with both our attitude and application,” McKenzie said.
”We went into the game with an attacking mindset but it at times compounded our problems, especially when we began to chase points.”
McKenzie said the Reds went into the game with an attacking mindset but felt it seemed to compound their problems as they chased the game and kept turning the ball over through poor decisions and execution at the breakdown.
“Even the last scrum of the game was probably indicative, we were still attacking from our own goal line,” McKenzie said.
“Maybe that’s silly I don’t know. But in the end that’s the way the team functions, we try and play and it didn’t work tonight.”
Asked if it would mean he might consider a more conservative style of play McKenzie admitted “we’ll have to look at the whole thing.”
“Every 40 minutes we’ve got a different combination through injury, so we’ve got to keep looking at what’s the simplest way to go about it.”
The Queenslanders must now regroup to face the Force in Perth on Saturday, before making their return to Suncorp Stadium on Friday 6 April against the Brumbies.
“The true test in judging the character of any team is the way they are able to respond to adversity and we’ve got a game against the Force next weekend where we need to right the wrongs from this match,” McKenzie said.
