Queensland Reds throw Waratahs a halves curveball

Waratahs No 8 Michael Wells knows precisely what to expect from Queensland at Suncorp Stadium … trench warfare.

Michael Wells and Israel Folau after the Waratahs’ loss to the Chiefs at Waikato Stadium last weekend

Waratahs No 8 Michael Wells knows precisely what to expect from Queensland on Saturday at Suncorp Stadium, although the Reds look set to throw them a curveball by selecting a new halves pairing in Moses Sorovi and Hamish Stewart.

They have never started a match together as a combination. Indeed Stewart, 20, has been in the run-on side only once as a No 10 in Super Rugby — though three times as a fullback — while 22-year-old Thursday Islander Sorovi is still to make his starting debut at nine. So it’s reasonable to suggest that if the Reds are preparing to change the two players who will handle the ball more than all their teammates, the whole game plan will change with them.

To be fair, Wells was referring to the physicality of the Reds, which has pretty much been a steady constant throughout the season. “We know what we’re going to get from them,” he said yesterday. “It’s going to be physical. It’s going to be won in the trenches, particularly in the forwards.”

Still, if the changes forecast yesterday are borne out when Queensland release their side later today, with halfback Ben Lucas expected to drop out of the starting XV and five-eighth Jono Lance moving to fullback, the Reds could dramatically unveil the game they have been inching towards all season — power forwards coupled with dramatically talented backs.

Reds coach Brad Thorn has been under pressure to change his 9-10 combination since the game against the Lions when Sorovi came off the bench and suddenly began feeding Stewart with the crisp, clean passes from the ruckbase that he and his outside backs had been craving.

Thorn, however, kept faith in 30-year-old halfback Lucas and 27-year-old five-eighth Lance who do, after all, represent one of his few touchpoints of experience in the Queensland team.

But his comments at the press conference after Queensland’s 15-18 loss to the Highlanders last Saturday suggested Thorn had finally reached his limit with the errant tactical kicking of his game-controllers. “Guys are showing lots of effort but it’s in our smarts. Sometimes we could have used the ball too, instead of kicking it,” Thorn said.

With the Reds having exciting wingers of the calibre of Izaia Perese and Jordan Petaia, it would be crazy not to let them loose. Besides, this is the wrong week for aimless kicking. The Reds have to be precise in how they invite Israel Folau, Taqele Naiyaravoro and Cam Clark into the game.

The ball was in play for 36 minutes and 28 seconds during the Waratahs’ match against the Chiefs in Hamilton last weekend, the highest of the season for NSW and, as Wells admitted yesterday, the frenetic pace showed on their faces, to the point where some of them have been told to watch their body language.

“It’s not an excuse to cut corners or go easy just because you are tired,” he said. “A few blokes have been put on notice.”

More than a few Waratahs squirmed through the review session on Monday morning as assistant coach Simon Cron ran clips of them slumped on their haunches or sucking in deep breaths with hands on knees. “It’s a cardinal sin for him. I would hazard a guess not many blokes would be on their haunches this week,” Wells said.