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Brad Thorn's State of Origin secret behind Reds' victory to end Blues season

Reds head coach Brad Thorn. Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Queensland’s State of Origin team didn’t just send a message to their opponents with a bruising defensive set in Wednesday’s series opener, they inspired Queensland Reds coach Brad Thorn.

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The former All Black made 11 appearances for the Maroons during his rugby league career and was a keen watcher as Queensland came from behind to beat NSW 18-14 at Suncorp Stadium.

A set of six at the start of the second half where Queensland repeatedly smashed the Blues particularly resonated, and Thorn used it as an example for his players before their Super Rugby clash with Auckland’s Blues at the same venue on Friday.

Just like their rugby league counterparts, the Reds overcame a sluggish start to defeat the Blues 29-28 – their first win over a New Zealand-based team in 16 attempts.

“I talked to the lads yesterday at the captain’s run, just around the Origin game,” Thorn said.

“From what I saw there was a set of six there where they just decided to win.

“You improve and you get better and you do stuff but there’s that next bit where you decide to win games.

“I’m not saying we’re there yet but we fought it out, we found a way to get that result. That was important.”

Saturday’s win was just the sixth of the season for the Reds but gave the home fans the chance send veteran second-rower Scott Higginbotham out a winner in his final match at Suncorp Stadium for the franchise.

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The game is also expected to be the last time captain Samu Kerevi plays on home soil for the Reds with a deal to join Japanese club Suntory after this year’s World Cup already believed to be signed.

For Thorn though, the most important thing was heeding the lesson of Wednesday’s Origin match and refusing to lose.

“We started off, we were flat, there was some easy tries we gave them,” he said.

“We like doing things the hard way.

“They got there in the end, they made it happen. There’s a difference between just losing and making it happen, getting the win.

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“I like to think that we’ll get some belief out of that.”

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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?

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