Reds co-coach Nick Stiles happy to bore Waratahs boss Daryl Gibson

Queensland Reds co-coach Nick Stiles plans to bore Waratahs mentor Daryl Gibson senseless tomorrow night.

Nick Stiles says the Reds can dominate in the scrum against the Waratahs, with frontrower James Slipper one of their key men. Picture: Jonathon Searle

Queensland Reds co-coach Nick Stiles has the greatest of respect for his Waratahs counterpart Daryl Gibson but he plans to bore him senseless in tomorrow’s return ­interstate match at Suncorp ­Stadium.

The Reds were comprehensively outplayed in the opening round of Super Rugby, beaten 30-10 in Sydney, with Gibson ­afterwards feeling the need to apologise to Tahs fans for the match coming to a virtual standstill as it approached fulltime, with Queensland trapping NSW in front of their posts and scrumming them into the turf.

The Queenslanders might have been prepared to accept criticism for being outplayed but they certainly took umbrage at Gibson’s comment that he viewed himself as a spectator too and he’d come to Allianz Stadium to see running rugby, not a set-piece ­extravaganza.

“Daryl is a great bloke but I couldn’t care less how he wants to play the game,” said Stiles, the mastermind behind the Reds’ dominant scrum. “We want to go out and win. There is a hunger in the group and we’ll do whatever we have to do to win.

“The Waratahs’ set pieces have been very flaky during the start of the competition and it’s an area where we’re bringing Gilly (Liam Gill), Slips (James Slipper) and Saia Fainga’a back into the fold, so we’re only going to get stronger in that area. We’ve got to assert our dominance.”

No doubt the Reds will be intrigued by NSW’s decision to drop Will Skelton entirely from their match-day 23.

The giant second-rower has been a weakness to exploit at scrum and lineout time, but ­equally Skelton’s ability to draw two and three men into the tackle and still unload the pass has caused the Reds defence no end of headaches. On balance, Queensland will probably be highly relieved he isn’t there.

While front-rowers Slipper and Fainga’a will come off the bench — meaning there will be no let-up in the scrum battle — the Reds have opted to start their third returning Wallaby, with Gill moving in directly at openside flanker in place of Waita Setu.

Gill was sorely missed in Sydney and he will be desperately needed tomorrow given that ­Gibson has chosen workaholics Jed Holloway and Jack Dempsey in the backrow with Michael Hooper.

This may well be the last time in his career that Toulon-bound Gill gets the chance to oppose Hooper, although to be fair, it was probably David Pocock rather than the NSW captain who blocked his entry to the Test side.

Gill might have admitted that Hooper wasn’t as good as Pocock over the ball, but he freely conceded he has other uses. “No, he’s not (as good as Pocock),” Gill said. “But he’s very good in that loose space around the rucks. You know he is going to be ever-present and when there’s a chance to strike, you know he’ll strike, so you’ve just got to be wary of what he can do. And they’ve got a lot of players like that.”

The return of Bernard Foley at five-eighth brings an entirely new threat to the Waratahs backline.

He might not have the instinctive skills of a Kurtley Beale — who has moved back to inside centre in place of the unlucky David Horwitz — but his ability to square the attack and get his outside backs heavily involved means the Reds defence will be tested at every turn.

Certainly the Reds should not count on him being rusty. He has played so much football of late that his recent break with a shoulder injury will surely freshen up his game, not detract from it.

Hopefully the cooler weather and his young opponent, Jake McIntyre, will bring some respite from his cramping problems. Although his difficulties last week at the end of the Blues match were more cork-related, he has struggled with his goalkicking because his leg ­muscles keep seizing up and there is only so much he can ask of his magic pickle juice. “The amount of running a nine and 10 have to do is massive but hopefully Jake is getting attuned to backing up,” Stiles said.

This match, like every interstate clash going back decades, will revolve ultimately around defence and which side can play within themselves. The Reds have come only lately to an ensemble game and they will be keen to exploit it, but the real test of how far they have come in how much they can limit their game. So, too, for NSW, who attempted to play way too much rugby against the High­landers and paid the price.