This week is a prime example. Quade played a pretty average game. A few nice touches, a few bad errors, but generally the Reds didn't click and QC (Quade Cooper) should take a bit of responsibility for that. It honestly reminded me of JOC (James O'Connor)'s performance for the Wallabies.
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The bolded bit is the only bit I really disagree with, as I saw them as entirely different problems. Scott Allen really highlighted JOC (James O'Connor)'s inability to link with any back other than Beale when he pointed out how many times Leelo got the ball from JOC (James O'Connor). In contrast, Quade got the ball to the Reds backs well enough, but normally with a long blue line of defence in their face (just contrast JOC (James O'Connor)'s K/P/R in the first two Lions games to Quade's on Saturday).
Reds have had issues with their backs being penetrative all year. Last night, some of this was Quade's fault, some was Frisby's (who has a quick enough pass but sprays then around), and most I'd say from the Red's centres, fullback and wings who barely provided any penetration or support play or options when given the chance (if you look at the Reds' linebreaks to tries, their conversion rate is absolutely shocking).
Live at the ground, the Reds backs weren't providing many good options. Unlike previous years they'd have a decoy out to a second man play, and they just weren't there for Quade to find - not sure whose fault that is. A lot of the time on Saturday you could see the forwards come around the corner until they ran out of room or forward pods, then the ball went to Quade with the defence set and ready. Not when you want the ball to go to your backs, and I'm sure that most 5/8s aren't exactly happy receiving the ball with a set defence waiting. Honestly, the Reds backs never even looked close to being threat in that game from where I sat.
The Reds' inability to penetrate was also shown in their clean breaks - just three, two to Frisby around the ruck, and one from Lucas out wide. A few times Lucas got the ball in space and looked like he was running in deep mud. The few times the Reds had space the Waratahs defence easily slid and covered them.
Not sure what has gone on with the Reds backs this year, but their revolving door at 12 through 15 certainly hasn't helped. There's real issues there in the midfield for the Reds, and I think it's been their real weakness this year. They have definitely been trading on reputation a lot this year.
Regarding the intercept try, normally you would've expected people to be all over Quade for that, but it's been pretty muted. Personally, I don't really fault Quade for throwing that pass - it was a set move that McKibbin happened to read. Not sure it was the most well thought out move, although Davies had a yearning hole if McKibbin had followed Quade. The problem was that the execution was too close to the line.
The final thing is kicking from hand. Most of the kicks from Quade had the right idea (I can just think of one shorter one that didn't), but the execution was not great. One example is that the Tahs were playing with their wingers up in the line a lot (particularly off set piece), leaving the fullback to cover a huge area. Cooper did spot this, but in one example his kick didn't have enough angle on it and Volavola easily got across. Defensive lines with the wingers in the line leave a lot of space for a kick in behind, and the Reds should've done better to take advantage. Would be keen to know if the Tahs have been playing with that alignment all year, or if they switched for that game.
