Tag Archives: Super Rugby
Super Rugby Showdown: Reds Secure Bonus Point Against Drua
The last home game for the Queensland Reds saw them play an uptempo match against Fijian Drua. 15,623 turned up to Suncorp and were thoroughly entertained. A comfortable 21-12 lead at halftime was quickly gobbled up by the Drua with two tries in 8 minutes by Manasa Mataele to put them ahead 24-21. The Reds were reinvigorated to score 4 more tries for a bonus point 45-24 win, lifting them to 5th on the Super Rugby table.
Aussie Gold Rush in Spain
Not since 2018 in Sydney have both our men’s and women’s Sevens teams won the HSBC 7s Round. This time in Valladolid, Spain, the penultimate round, ahead of Bordeaux next weekend, both our sides picked up Gold Medals. Beating the Top of the Table Blitzboks 26-19 shows a commitment our men’s team has been lacking. We’ve come to expect our women to do well, and their 27-14 win over the USA in the final, without star player Maddie Levi, was scintillating, putting them on top of their Table, leapfrogging New Zealand.
Another Heartbreak at Ashgrove
For over 60 years, the rivalry between St. Laurence’s College and Marist Brothers Ashgrove has been intence. This afternoon was no exception going down 17-15.
We opened the score with an excellent try on the left flank, only to see our 5-0 lead evaporate 5 minutes later to the Blue & Gold.
It was the story of the day, leading for the large part of the match. With time almost up we defended gallantly only for Marist to score on the final buzzer.
Great to see plenty of Laurie’s old boys in the John Eales Stand. Traveling down from the Sunshine Coast, across from Singapore and returning from Japan 🗾
Western Gale Force Another Blow for The Reds
The Western Force has handed the Reds another close loss three weeks in a row last night in Perth, 19-14. What more do the Queenslanders have to do to cement their spot in the top 6? Discarded Reds players in the west outmuscle their former side with another technical performance proving the Suncorp thrashing wasn’t a blip. Saint Laurence’s old boy, John Bryant, replacing Fraser McReight, bumbled through the first half, dropping two important touches.
Two-try standout Carlos Tizzano was immense in an armwrestle with the Queensland Reds. 50 Super Rugby caps for the Wallaby back-rower showed he’s all class.
Tate McDermott Shines in UQ Rugby Return
On a balmy 23-degrees celcius afternoon of early autumn at the University of Queensland campus in St Lucia, a modest crowd watched a significant step in the journey of Brisbanerugby’s favourite son, Tate McDermott. In a flawless first-half performance for the Red Heavies, McDermott scored a try in classic style from a quick penalty tap. The boy is back, after the Reds’ second loss to the Western Force 14-19 in Perth; his return couldn’t come any sooner.
Reds vs Chiefs: A Thrilling Battle Overview
The Reds had their biggest home crowd of the season, with 14,438 of the faithful turning out for another cliffhanger two weeks in a row. Having lost the week before in super-point to the Blues during Super Round in Christchurch, the crowd were on their feet inside 10 minutes when Lachie Andersen showed what we had been missing since Round 4 with his return on the left flank, crashing over in the corner to put the Reds on the board first with a five-pointer converted by Harry McLaughlin-Phillips.
Chiefs replied quickly with a try to inform number 8, Wallace Sititi, and converted by the mercurial boot of Damien McKenzie, to level the score 7-all. The arm wrestle continued, and in the 14th minute, second-year New Zealand referee Marcus Playle awarded the Chiefs a penalty, giving McKenzie a shot at goal, basically in front of the posts; however, uncharacteristically, he pushed it to the right. Score remains 7-all.
In the 20th minute, Reds inside-centre, Hunter Paisami, gives his opposite number, Quinn Tupaea (VC), a bone-rattling tackle that requires the trainer to come to his assistance. The TMO deems it fair play.
The forward battle was immense when Playle awarded the Chiefs a try, which, on review, was denied due to several knock-ons. Under penalty advantage, McKenzie slots a penalty 5 minutes before half-time to put the visitors ahead 10-7. Another controversial decision by the Kiwi referee against Seru Uru denied the Reds a crucial 5-pointer before they went to the sheds. The Match Official has one look at it before the ref calls half-time to a huge chorus of boos from the crowd. Score remains Chiefs ahead 10-nil.
The entertainment didn’t stop with Conrad Sewell, who played fly-half for St. Laurence’s College up to Grade 10, providing his dulcet tones for the passionate crowd at the break (photo by David Kapernick @brisbanerugbycom).
The forward battle continued in the second half, with none other than Australia’s inform lock, Lukan Salakai-Loto (main photo by David Kapernick @brisbanerugbycom), snubbed by Joe Schmidt for the British & Irish Lions Tour last year; he will be first pick when Les Kiss takes the Wallabies’ coach’s seat from July. However, the Chiefs score first in the second half, extending their lead to 17-7.
McKenzie was under pressure and made a few errors as the battle intensified. The return of Carter Gordon also put a spring in the Reds’ step.
At the 65th minute mark, Harry Wilson receives the ball out wide from Gordon on the right flank, slips a pass (“the ball of the year“, according to Tim Horan in the commentary box) to Joe Brial, who goes over for a much-needed try. Converted by replacement half, Louis Werchon, to close the gap to 14-17.
A brain snap in the 68th minute by front rower, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, results in a yellow card. Proving costly for the Reds when it led to a double for Chiefs’ replacement hooker, Samisoni Taukei’aho. McKenzie adds the extras for the lead to go back to a 10-point margin, 24-14.
In the 73rd minute, a long cut-out pass by Gordon puts 19-year-old Treyvon Pritchard in a position to score his first Super Rugby Pacific try, smoking McKenzie in the process, to close the margin to 21-24 with the successful conversion by replacement halfback, Luis Werchon.
In the 78th minute, Sititi goes over for a double, breaking the hearts of the Lang Park faithful to extend the lead back to ten, 31-21. The Chiefs close out the match, and a chance at a home quarter-final for the Reds goes begging.
With three more weeks of Super Rugby Pacific, coach Kiss has to focus his chargers on maintaining a position in the top six. He said after the match that he wanted his players to stay cool, even if the referees’ decisions went against them (12-5).
Back to the Drawing Board
12,248 faithful watched our beloved Reds get schooled by the men from the west at Suncorp last Saturday night. This can only be described as a total capitulation. The armwrestle from the beginning appeared that both sides were here to rumble; however, Fraser McReight’s men couldn’t produce the goods and bring home the Easter chocolates. Queensland teams of the past, such as the 2011 Super Rugby Champions, who are celebrating their 15-year anniversary at Suncorp Saturday night, have always prided themselves on defence. Simon Cron’s selection proved a point: Les Kiss must rally his troops, as it doesn’t get any easier hosting the Canterbury Crusaders this Saturday at Lang Park. Kick-off is 7.35pm (remember daylight saving has finished).
The Western Force were the first to cross the paint to lead 7-0 with Argentine rep, Viaolini Ekuasi, in the 11th minute. Soon after, the men in Red equalled the score with a well-executed move off a lineout by birthday boy Treyvon Pritchard, replacement, Tim Ryan, aka the Junkyard Dog. He went through untouched near the posts off a first-phase ball from a lineout. Carter Gordon tied the score at 7-all with the successful conversion. They added to their total due to the smarts of Kalani Thomas to put workhorse Joe Brial crossing the chalk in the 24th minute. The first half finished with ex-Red, Matt Grealy, receiving an offload from captain Nick Champion de Crespigny to score, with Ben Donaldson converting in the 39th minute to go to the break 21-12.
Ben Donaldson was the form five-eighth on the night, bettering his opposite, Carter Gordon. The return of Dylan Pietsch is great for the Wallabies, but he did some damage against the Reds ‘Wallaby-studded backline, running it up strongly. The Western Force just showed more passion to get their Super Rugby Pacific 2026 season back on track.
At half-time, down 12-21, it was anyone’s game, but the Western Force just showed more passion to get their Super Rugby Pacific 2026 season back on track. Led by Captain Nick Champion de Crespigny, the Force played a textbook match, schooling the Reds at their fortress, winning 42-19. Argentinian lock, Franco Molina, scored a double hat-trick.
Reds Holdout Fijian Drua to Remain Undefeated
Heading in to Round 5 of Super Rugby Pacific, only the Brumbies and the Reds remain undefeated. They face off against each other this Friday in Canberra to see which team remains undefeated for the 2022 season. The matchup between Tom Banks and Jordan Petaia at fullback will be interesting ahead of Wallaby selection. Petaia played a great game there for the Reds in his first chance to run on with the 15 jersey. Both in attack and defence he imposed himself as a real contender for the Wallaby role there.
An injury ravaged Reds held out Fijian Drua at the weekend, ironically, it was a Fijian in Seru Uru that saved the Reds from an embarrassing result. Up four tries to nil with 15 minutes to go it looked like the Reds were heading for a bonus point victory until the visitors scored three unanswered tries in quick succession. With less than 10 minutes remaining on the clock the scores were locked at 28-all before Uru reached over from a maul to score a five-pointer taking the score to 33-28 to the Reds. That is not where the drama ended as Uru stole a lineout off the Fijians on the Queensland line at the fulltime mark to deny them drawing level or even winning.
Coach Brad Thorn said, “For our team, a game like that can be a challenge because there’s space and there’s opportunities but you’ve almost got to rein it in a little bit.
“Keep your patience, don’t overplay – that’s probably how I would assess that.”
Uru’s (pictured above) standout performance has made Thorn’s job a little bit harder this week with the expected return of captain Liam Wright in the position Uru was playing. It’s really a good headache to have knowing that the Reds have depth and that the guys will really put in for each other when their chance comes. That depth will be really tested on Friday when they come up against the Brumbies that are also in red hot form.
Super Rugby Aotearoa 2021
The rejection of the “Moana Pasifika“ bid to join the NZ Super Rugby Competition in 2021 by the NZ Rugby Union is hard to comprehend and shows a lack of willingness on their part to expand the Super Rugby Competition and to grow the game of Rugby Union in the Pacific Islands.
The ‘Moana Pasifika‘ offer had been prepared meticulously and presented with a feasibility plan that contained more than 100 pages of cost analysis, possible squads and coaching teams.
On the one hand the NZ Rugby Union have said that they are going to make losses of $100 Million, yet the ‘Moana Pasifika‘ proposal was expected to make a profit in their very first season! So how realistic was that expectation by the NZ Rugby Union? That being said the ‘Moana Pasifika‘ process showed through their projected sums that they could break even in 2021. The Pacific Islands has been a nursery for producing some brilliant All Blacks over a long period of time, you only need to look at two legendary figures of the game in Sir Bryan Williams and Sir Michael Jones who are a credit to the game of Rugby Union, are proud of their heritage and who have been passionately backing and campaigning for a ‘Moana Pasifika‘ side to join the Super Rugby since 1995.
It goes without saying what it would do for the development of Rugby Union in the Pacific Islands and how it would inspire and motivate young boys to follow their dreams if the ‘Moana Pasifika’ bid had been successful.
Now to make their vision a reality the ‘Moana Pasifika‘ bid may be forced to revise their offer and shift the team from their proposed base in South Auckland to Western Sydney and play in the Australian Super Rugby AU Competition.
It can only be hoped that the NZ Rugby Union will reconsider their decision on the ‘Moana Pasifika’ proposal, which has a lot of merit and look at it from all different angles.
GJ (Gold Coast/Kiwi reporter)
Brisbane Rugby.com 