Queensland Reds aren’t playing for the full 80 minutes and can only blame themselves

INCONSISTENCY is an underlying constant to lack of success and at this point Queensland Reds have that nailed, former Wallaby Andrew Slack writes.

Quade Cooper of the Reds loses the ball over the try line in the tackle of Joe Tomane of the Brumbies during the Super Rugby match between the Queensland Reds and the Brumbies. Pic Darren England.

THE Reds are trying ... in both senses of the word.

They try so hard that they are never really beaten until the final whistle. And they try our patience with periods of play which piggyback their opponents into the contest.

If you took patches out of every game this season, there would be 40 minutes worth of play where their execution would suggest they could beat anybody.

There would be another 40 minutes of ineptness which would let them beat nobody.

Inconsistency is an underlying constant to lack of success, and at this point the Reds have that nailed.

Two minutes before half-time in Friday night’s loss to the Brumbies, the Reds had the feed to the scrum. The result was a penalty to the visitors, who kicked their final points of the game to go to the break 23-10.

In the second half that same Reds scrum dismantled their opposing pack for an Ed Quirk try. Why did Jekkyl only do his bit in the second half, while Hyde was in control in the first?

Scrummaging is not the only area of the Reds play where such conflicting output rears its ugly head. News_Rich_Media: Fox Sports rugby commentators Nick McArdle and Tim Horan break down the Brumbies' three-point win over the Reds on Friday night.

You cannot play winning rugby standing on your heels. Yet for much of the first half, a number of Reds players seemed stuck there. In attack particularly, lethargy ruled.

I’m not a devotee of statistics, so I’m unsure where the Reds sit regarding the number of off-loads they execute. But I’m guessing it’s not high.

Of course, there is no point off-loading into thin air, so you are going to be low in that count if support play is lacking.

Rod Davies made a threatening break at one stage on Friday night and the look of bewilderment on his face when he realised he had no-one to pass the ball to told a tale.

Not that he was error-free. The penalty he conceded for a tackle on Matt Toomua was symptomatic of the Reds capacity to have periods of play where brain fades are the norm.

Whether it’s a poor scrum, lazy support play or lack of awareness, many of the Reds problems can be summarised by one characteristic — poor concentration.

Their bodies might be doing the 80 minutes but their brains aren’t.

The other reality, of course, is that this is not a great Reds team.

The holes created by the departure in recent seasons of Scott Higginbotham and Digby Ioane have not been adequately filled, and that has increased the pressure on the game breakers like Will Genia and Quade Cooper to perform.

Everyone has seen what that pair can do at their best but that hasn’t been in evidence in recent weeks. News_Rich_Media: Reds’ Richard Graham and James Horwill address the press following their team’s 20-23 loss to the Brumbies.

It certainly has not been lack of effort.

It is probably the contrary, with both of them taking on too much responsibility individually.

The turnover of players outside them can’t have helped but ultimately, there has to be trust placed in whoever is with you on the field.

When your world-class players aren’t playing as their reputations suggest, and when there are flaws in your team, you’re going to struggle to win consistently.

The Reds will argue, and reasonably so, that they have received few favours from the whistleblowers. With so many close finishes, that becomes vital.

However, you can complain about refereeing decisions until the cows come home. The cows aren’t listening.

In all likelihood, making the finals was going to be as far as this Reds squad would go in 2014. The tightness of the table still leaves them with a slim hope. But they will need two things — luck, and the ability to keep their heads screwed on for the majority of a game, not just in fits and starts.