Reds v Crusaders - Round 6

[waiopehu oldboy]

Crusaders will be without Blackadder (calf strain, expected back after their Round 8 bye) but will have ScoBar after NZR granted an exemption to the rest protocol on account of him currently being the only fit lock on the Crusaders roster.

Fun fact: the last time the Reds beat the Crusaders at Suncorp was in the 2011 GF.

 

[Adam84]

Injury crisis at lock, aren’t too different to Reds.

Reds expected to be missing Paisami, Lynagh and Vunivalu from the backline, with Blyth the only addition to the forward pack, probably off the bench.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Now being reported that Blackadder is out for up to six weeks but SamW could be back post-bye.

 

[Dctarget]

REDS (1-15): Peni Ravai, Matt Faessler, Zane Nonggorr, Ryan Smith, Seru Uru, Liam Wright (co-c) Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Tate McDermott, James O’Connor, Jordan Petaia, Isaac Henry, Josh Flook, Suliasi Vunivalu, Jock Campbell

RESERVES: Richie Asiata, Dane Zander, Phransis Sula-Siaosi, Angus Blyth, Jake Upfield, Kalani Thomas, Taj Annan, Mac Grealy

 

[Dctarget]

 

[The Nomad]

Good to see Vunivalu has recovered, hope he gets through the warm up.
Grealy had a good game for UQ last weekend and gets a another chance.

 

[Wilson]

Great to see Ravai starting and Blyth back. It looks like Creighton has fallen well out of favour with Annan preferred over him as 10 cover the last two weeks.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Out of interest, are any of Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Tate McDermott, JOC (James O'Connor) or Jordan Petaia required to have Wallaby stand down this year, and have any of them already played 5 games consecutively?

 

[PhilClinton]

Great to see Ravai starting and Blyth back. It looks like Creighton has fallen well out of favour with Annan preferred over him as 10 cover the last two weeks.

Creighton was pretty flat for Reds Academy during the QPR trials.

 

[PhilClinton]

Out of interest, are any of Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Tate McDermott, JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) or Jordan Petaia required to have Wallaby stand down this year, and have any of them already played 5 games consecutively?

Wilson and JOC (James O'Connor) surely won't have to - they both got dropped for majority of the last international season.

 

[LeCheese]

Creighton was pretty flat for Reds Academy during the QPR trials.

He was reasonable when he covered for JOC (James O'Connor) last year though. I wonder if Annan is seen as better backs cover more broadly - possibly Campbell or Henry could also step into 10?

 

[PhilClinton]

He was reasonable when he covered for JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) last year though. I wonder if Annan is seen as better backs cover more broadly - possibly Campbell or Henry could also step into 10?

I mean Creighton has played at 10, 14 and 15 in 1st grade I think - I think he's good enough to cover a bunch of spots. If it's anything to go by, some of his Brother's team mates have commented to me that he doesn't seem as confident this year.

 

[Wilson]

Out of interest, are any of Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Tate McDermott, JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) or Jordan Petaia required to have Wallaby stand down this year, and have any of them already played 5 games consecutively?

Petaia is the only one I could see having been flagged as a frontline Wallaby based on game time last year and he's already missed a game this season. McReight (particularly if Australia A is a factor), but it was noted in the initial reporting on resting that younger players without injury issues would have game time prioritised over resting

 

[dillyboy]

Out of interest, are any of Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson, Tate McDermott, JOC (James O'Connor) (James O'Connor) or Jordan Petaia required to have Wallaby stand down this year, and have any of them already played 5 games consecutively?

Probably only need resting if we make the finals

 

[RugbyReg]

Crusaders will be without Blackadder (calf strain, expected back after their Round 8 bye) but will have ScoBar after NZR granted an exemption to the rest protocol on account of him currently being the only fit lock on the Crusaders roster.

Fun fact: the last time the Reds beat the Crusaders at Suncorp was in the 2011 GF.

Funner fact, we won 3 of our first 5 games v the Crusaders in Super Rugby, before going on a 10 year losing spree.

Broken in 2010 by a Quade-inspired Reds at Suncorp, we backed up and won another two games the next year (including the GF). We have now gone another 10 years without winning again...

The post-2011 run had some horrendous outcomes too.

2012 was fine with 12-15, but then...
2013 was 9-38
2014 was 29-57
2015 was 17-58
2016 was 5-38

2017 was 20-22
2018 no game
2019 was 12-22
2020 was 20-24

So all looked better, until:

2021 was 28-63!

 

[RebelYell]

Vunivalu vs Leicester is a good battle.

 

[Wilson]

Disappointing but not surprising reading:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1640954562424217600

Think the Zander demotion is pretty clearly off the back of the penalties (and lack of impact to make up for them) and Daugunu missing selection may have been too.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Don't know why their surnames differ slightly but Noah Hotham is the younger brother of NZ 7's player Jazmin Felix-Hotham.

 

[Spamnoodle]

Crusaders will be without Blackadder (calf strain, expected back after their Round 8 bye) but will have ScoBar after NZR granted an exemption to the rest protocol on account of him currently being the only fit lock on the Crusaders roster.

Fun fact: the last time the Reds beat the Crusaders at Suncorp was in the 2011 GF.

That is a fun fact. I wish there was a more recent win, of course, but that game was SO much fun!

 

[Spamnoodle]

]

Think the Zander demotion is pretty clearly off the back of the penalties (and lack of impact to make up for them) and Daugunu missing selection may have been too.

Zander is such a liability, a glaring weak link. I really wish we had the cattle so he could be demoted all the back to UQ. Off the top of my head he was worth 4 penalties against last week and nothing for. Ineffective in every aspect.