Reds to work harder on new tackle law interpretations
QR Reds Head Coach Ewen McKenzie conceded his players have more homework to do on the new tackle law interpretations, after being heavily penalised in Friday night's 31-12 trial match loss to the Western Force in Perth.
McKenzie said the Force played well to deserve their three tries to two win, but lamented his side's mistakes and the 12 points they conceded from penalty goals.
"I think we learned today that if you kick the ball away and give away stupid penalties it's hard work," McKenzie said.
"There's a couple of lessons there but nothing mind shattering. It's pretty much the basics of the game we didn't get right, but that's alright - it gives us something to work on."
McKenzie said his players will also need to work on adjusting to life under the SANZAR directive to referees to crack down on defending teams attempting to slow the clearance of ball from the ruck by lying over the ball or failing to release the tackled player.
"Some of the guys are still playing the rugby that was being played last year and it's definitely a different game at the tackle now," McKenzie said.
"You only saw two penalties I think rewarding the defending team for stealing the ball. All the penalties went the other way in terms of tacklers not rolling away. That's the way it is; it gives a lot more confidence to attack as you could see in the game - you get a lot more momentum, a lot of phases to play around with. So we'll work with that and that's the benefit of the trials, to see what we've got."
McKenzie said he was disappointed to lose the trial but said the pre-season had served its purpose of giving teams the chance to test combinations and systems.
"All credit to them (the Force), I thought they played with good endeavour and enterprise. I'm certainly not denigrating the Force; they played well but we were pretty average.
"We didn't come here to come second so it's disappointing from that point of view, but a lot happens in seven days in rugby.. so we're pretty determined to make sure our first home game at Suncorp is a good one."
The Force controlled the game from the outset with driving forward play and astute kicking for territory. The Reds hardly touched the ball in the first 20 minutes, as the Force piled on the pressure and scored at even time to be 20-0 ahead.
It wasn't until the 29th minute that the Reds got on the board, with Quade Cooper slicing through from a movement that started in the Reds quarter and toeing the ball ahead for a flying Rod Davies to regather an awkward bounce and touch down out wide. However the Force struck back immediately to go to the break 25-5 ahead.
The Reds added a second try after the break, a scything run by Peter Hynes putting the Reds onto the attack followed by another nice dab by Cooper that almost put Luke Morahan in before he was bundled into touch. A fumbled defensive lineout by the Force gave an unexpected ball to Reds hooker James Hanson, who passed to Will Genia for the scrumhalf to burrow through two tacklers to score. Cooper nailed an excellent kick from the sideline to narrow the gap to 25-12.
But the Force kept extending their lead through penalty kicks to finish the match comfortably in front.
The good news to come out of the night for the Reds was that there were no major injuries.
Western Force 31 (Hodgson, Brown, Harris tries, O'Connor 3 pens, 2 cons, Shepherd pen) bt QR Reds 12 (Rod Davies, Will Genia tries, Quade Cooper con) Crowd 6086
