Super Rugby: Reds fight to retain centre Samu Kerevi

The change of coach at Ballymore has come too late to prevent Liam Gill’s departure.

Liam Gill has signed with French club Toulon and will leave the Reds at the end of the Super Rugby season. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

The change of coach at Ballymore has come too late to prevent Liam Gill’s departure and it is becoming increasingly evident that the Queensland Reds are facing a desperate battle to save Samu Kerevi.

Gill, who may well rate among the top dozen rugby players in the country but no higher than third in the list of openside flankers behind Dave Pocock and Michael ­Hooper, signed with French club Toulon in late January when ­Richard Graham looked confirmed as Reds coach.

Events moved quickly from there, however, with Graham losing his position after just two matches, but still not quickly enough for Gill, one of the few Reds who openly opposed Graham’s retention as head coach. This week’s dramatic events haven’t changed his mind about going to France.

“I’m pretty much set in my ways,” Gill yesterday told The Weekend Australian. “I was comfortable with making a decision when it was a tough decision and I’ve just got to stick with it. I’m still happy with it, I’m still excited by it.

“It is a tough situation because I do think everything is turning around at Ballymore now but it hadn’t by the time I had to make my decision (at the end of ­January).

“I really like what the Reds are doing. I really like that they have made the right changes and have the right structure. Unfortunately my position in Australian rugby is a bit up in the air and I think it’s going to be good for me to get a bit of a freshen-up outside of Super Rugby and Australian rugby and have a bit of a change-up. In two years’ time I’d certainly love to be back in touch with the Reds.”

Gill admitted “mixed reports” about the experiences of former teammates Quade Cooper and Will Genia with French clubs had made him fully alert to the fact that European clubs would demand their pound of flesh from him.

“We’ll see how it goes. It’s certainly something I always wanted to but I’ve heard mixed reports come out of Europe. It’s certainly something I’d like to keep in my pocket, to come back to Super Rugby and Australian rugby at some stage.”

The battle for the Reds has now become one to retain centre ­Kerevi, named last year in Michael Cheika’s extended squad that went into camp at Caloundra but fell out of contention before ­seriously being considered for the Test side.

In all fairness, the Reds could not say until now that Kerevi stood his best chance of playing for the Wallabies by remaining in Queensland but now Matt O’Connor — the Reds co-coach with responsibilities for the backs — has a dozen games to convince him that the situation has changed.

But he will have to do so against a backdrop of intense competition, with the Brumbies at the forefront of a posse of Australian clubs anxious to sign the centre. With Matt Toomua heading overseas at the end of this season, Kerevi is seen a perfect alternative to groom as Tevita Kiridrani’s midfield partner.

With Gill unlikely to have recovered from a stress fracture of his lower back before the Waratahs game on March 27, but more likely the following match against the Highlanders on April 9 after the bye, the pivotal player for the Reds could be the youngster who will make his run-on debut against the Rebels in Melbourne tonight, Waita Setu.

New co-coaches Nick Stiles and O’Connor found there was no way Queensland could continue losing the ball at the breakdown by playing Curtis Browning as a seven when he is clearly a six and have swung Setu into the task. His task tonight is formidable, with the Rebels boasting a ball-hungry backrow of Sean McMahon, Adam Thomson and Jordy Reid.

There is no doubt, however, that Melbourne coach Tony McGahan is extremely edgy of the Reds’ bounce back and not just because of the change in their coaching set-up.

“Yeah, you’re always wary when a change of leadership comes across,” McGahan said. “The players end up taking accountability for that and end up responding well. But they’ve played well against us for the last couple of years and their forward pack is still the centrepiece for what they’re doing. And once you’ve got a foundation like that, anything can happen.”

The Reds have the most successful lineout in Super Rugby with a 97 per cent win rate and their scrum has been a weapon in every match, though it was noticeable it wasn’t quite so dominant in the closing stages of last week’s game against the Force.

They are up against a Rebels front-row made up entirely of internationals in Toby Smith, James Hanson and Laurie Weeks tonight and there is no question that ­Hanson — the Reds’ hooker last season — will have told his teammates how to prepare for what is coming.