Reds showing heart but poor execution killing off hopes of late run to Super Rugby finals series
THE Reds are dead as a finals factor unless they can become ruthless finishers again because seven bombed tries is the reason for their plight.
Opinion
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THE Reds are dead as a finals factor unless they can suddenly become ruthless finishers again because seven bombed tries is the reason for their plight.
You can moan about referees, untimely penalties, player departures or a key injury but the truth is the Reds are simply too butterfingered on big chances.
The 2011 champions are architects of their own tumble to 12th on the Super Rugby table when you tally up the rolled gold tries that have been butchered in eight games.
That’s not including hopeful visits to 5m scrums or lineouts or even rucks close to the tryline.
They are the seven five-pointers that sides above the Reds have grabbed clinically in similar scenarios.
Go through them.
Quade Cooper couldn’t get the ball down when over the tryline against the ACT Brumbies last Friday night a week after he spilt a Ben Lucas pass with the line open against the Western Force.
Will Genia actually dotted the ball over the tryline against the Brumbies only to have a jersey-grabbing infringement rule it out.
Rod Davies spilt the difficult regather of a grubber kick on the tryline against the Force just as Aidan Toua did against the Sharks.
Mike Harris blew a seven-point play in the close loss to the Lions when he split a pass just a few strides from the posts, while prop Greg Holmes couldn’t latch onto a quick lineout throw 5m out against the Cheetahs.
A winning or losing year swings on what you make of such big moments.
Just look at how the Force are turning scraps into gold ingots. Nick Cummins latched onto a 90m intercept try and turned another loose ball into a 70m try.
His hat-trick of opportunist strikes sunk the NSW Waratahs 28-16 and kept the feel-good Force revival rolling. The team tipped for the cellar is now fourth.
Reds skipper James Horwill was gutted after the 23-20 loss to the Brumbies.
The emotion dripping from Horwill’s comment that the Reds pack “don’t seem to get any credit ... ever ... from anyone” reflected the frustration of squandered chances.
The tight-head pushover try ignited by prop James Slipper was one for the ages and the Beau Robinson lineout-drive try was also as precise as any this year.
So much was put into the comeback against the Brumbies and then Lucas kicks wastefully from 55m out and Genia kicks the ball away with six minutes to go. Hold the ball.
The Reds have one more chance against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday week or it’s curtains for 2014.
The heart is there. Not leaving Quade Cooper so isolated would help too, but poor execution is what is killing the Reds.