McKenzie's Reds 'came to play'
Reds boss Ewen McKenzie was pleased with the positive intent his side showed in their 19-19 draw with the Brumbies in Brisbane.
The home side scored three tries to the Brumbies' one and dominated possession, testing the visitors' defence for lengthy periods of the game.
Jake Schatz, Rod Davies and Liam Gill all scored tries for the Reds, and Prop Ben Daley and lock Rob Simmons were both deemed to be held up over the line while centre Anthony Faingaa and flyer Davies also came agonisingly close in attempts to ground the ball.
After trailing 13-7 at halftime, the Reds produced a second half comeback and ultimately came away with a two competition points.
“I was pleased we came here to play. We scored three tries and got over the tryline a bunch of times,” McKenzie said.
“There was a big crowd and they wanted to see some action. In the end, we were determined to score tries so we got on with it. I was quite heartened by the way we went about things, which was quite productive.
“There was a heap of opportunities in the game so you can’t say we didn’t impose ourselves on the match. Unfortunately the scoreboard will never reflect that. Had we been a bit more disciplined at times we would have done better.”
Long periods of sustained attacking pressure forced the Brumbies to commit 12 of their 16 total penalties in their defending quarter and they were twice punished with yellow cards to centre Christian Lealiifano and reserve prop Scott Sio.
However, Reds captain James Horwill also conceded the Reds should have been more clinical with their opportunities.
“We went out there with a positive mindset and tried to play but there was some cynical stuff. But, in the end, we probably should have been better with our ability to execute, especially when they were down to 14 men,” Horwill said.
“We just wanted to keep the pressure on and the way we did that was by getting up and having them make more tackles.
The Reds have now won six games and drawn once in nine matches this season and sit on 33 competition points, only two points off the competition lead.
They will get their next opportunity to narrow that margin when they take on the Blues at Suncorp Stadium next week.
