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Brad Thorn comments cast serious doubt on his Reds future

Coach Brad Thorn of the Reds calls out to his players during the warm up before the round seven Super Rugby Pacific match between Queensland Reds and ACT Brumbies at Suncorp Stadium, on April 07, 2023, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Brad Thorn has cast serious doubt over his immediate coaching future after the Queensland Reds unravelled to hand the ACT Brumbies their first win in Brisbane since 2015.

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The Reds led 17-15 just before the break but lost their way in the second half, defeated 52-24 at Suncorp Stadium in a Good Friday meltdown that left the proud coach “gutted”.

Dual code marvel Thorn has overseen a cultural overhaul since taking the reins in 2018, blooding a host of raw talents and lifting the Super Rugby AU title in 2021.

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But at 2-5 and likely to be out of the top eight by round’s end, he said he had “possibly” taken the side as far as he could.

“Tonight hurts because it (a heavy loss at home) can’t happen,” said Thorn, who is off contract after this season.

“End of the day it’s on me. I’m a fighter by nature, I like challenges, but it’s a disappointing one tonight.

“I like to contribute. When it’s not going so well, it’s tough.”

Thorn said last week he hadn’t given proper thought to his next move after 30 continuous years as a rugby league or rugby union player and coach.

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On Friday night he looked a beaten man, but when asked if he expected to remain in the job for the back half of the season, he replied: “I’m not a quitter.”

“Who knows in coaching,” he said. “I’m not a quitter; I’ll continue to put my heart in and that other stuff’s out of my hands.”

The Reds started sharply and led 14-7 when halfback Tate McDermott ran 55m and beat five men to score a terrific solo try.

But again indiscipline haunted them, with Angus Blyth red-carded in the eighth minute for a high shot on Corey Toole that could lead to him being suspended for the rest of the regular season.

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More penalties piggy-backed the Brumbies forward and a late try while down a man themselves – after Tom Wright was yellow carded for a professional foul on a rampaging Jordan Petaia – gave the visitors a surprise halftime lead.

They scored five tries in a one-sided second half as the wheels fell off for the hosts in their first loss to an Australian side at Suncorp Stadium in 15 matches.

Brumbies five-eighth Noah Lolesio – like McDermott overlooked for Eddie Jones’ first Wallabies squad – controlled the game superbly and kicked all seven attempts in his own statement performance.

The hoodoo-busting win improved the Brumbies to 6-1 and second place on the live Super Rugby Pacific ladder.

Coach Stephen Larkham stuck up for the Reds, echoing Thorn’s contention the side was better than their current standing.

“It’s a tough one isn’t it? Small margins really,” Larkham said of a Reds side who have suffered narrow losses to the Rebels and Crusaders in recent weeks.

“I don’t think they deserve to be where they are on the table.

“Tonight it was only at the 70, 75th minute mark that we felt comfortable.”

Larhkham said if he were Thorn, he would “like to know that the people around you are supporting you”.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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