McKenzie: Time to show our character

Disappointed Reds coach Ewen McKenzie want his side to show their true character by bouncing back from their 61-8 hammering at the hands of the Bulls in Pretoria.

The defending champions have their backs against the wall after losses on the road to both the Sharks and Bulls, and a growing injury list.

The Reds were already without flyhalves Quade Cooper, Ben Lucas and Mike Harris before their clash with the Bulls.

However, things have gone from bad to worse with goal-kicker Jono Lance (broken leg) and Saia Faingaa (ankle) both leaving the field with injuries on Saturday.

“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 tonight [Saturday],” McKenzie said.

“We let ourselves down with both our attitude and application so we’ll go back and reassess where we are at and make judgments from there. We can’t change the scoreline now so we need to go out and make a statement next week.”

The experienced coach has also rued his team’s attacking mentality, which he believes added to their woes as the Bulls began to run away with the match.

“We went into the game with an attacking mindset but it at times compounded our problems, especially when we began to chase points,” he explained.

“We’ll review that during the week and learn from the experience.”