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Life after Kerevi: 'It's pretty obvious that most of our game plan went through Samu'

Samu Kerevi’s gone but in James O’Connor the Queensland Reds boast a different way forward that new captain Liam Wright says can unleash their full potential.

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Wright was announced captain on Wednesday, the 22-year-old replacing Japan-bound Kerevi at the helm of a squad that currently features just one player over 30.

Former Reds back James O’Connor is back though, while fellow centre option Jordan Petaia played just one full game before a serious foot injury spoiled his 2019 season.

Kerevi led the Super Rugby in runs and tackle busts, while making the second-most metres last season for a side that missed the playoffs after recording a 6 win, 10 loss regular season.

O’Connor, who could rotate between both inside centre and flyhalf this season, can take on the line but is more inclined to pass or kick than Kerevi.

Continue reading below…

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“It’s pretty obvious that most of our game plan went through Samu,” Wright said.

“He’s such a destructive runner and changes the game, but it gives us a good opportunity to play a different style and whoever we select at No.12, we can play a more expansive game.”

“We’re probably going to try and unleash it a bit more, instead of playing that bullocking game that Samu had.”

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O’Connor agreed he was far from a like-for-like Kerevi replacement.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7BBTeNAUQV/

“I don’t have the carrying abilities of Samu, but I have my own little plays,” he said.

“You have to adapt and I have added a little bit to my repertoire.”

Gold Coast product O’Connor was released from the final season of his two-year deal with the Reds in 2015, following stints with the Western Force and Melbourne Rebels.

But the 29-year-old has returned to Australia from a second European stint with a matured outlook that has seen him return to the Wallabies fold.

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“I’m coming home trying to bring some success back to Queensland,” O’Connor said.

“There’s talented guys in this backline and I want to get the best out of them.”

The Reds won a maiden Super Rugby title in 2011 but haven’t featured in finals since 2013.

“Stay with us,” O’Connor said of his message to fans.

“Generally Queensland brought through some great schoolboys and we’d sort of lost that, so I’m impressed with what they’ve done recently,” he said.

“We want to play for this team, this state.”

– AAP

A former teammate of Sonny Bill Williams believes that union fans will take more notice of league, now that the superstar is heading back to his roots:

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Flankly 2 hours 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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