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Reds eye up return date for star playmaker James O'Connor

(Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)

Queensland Reds captain Liam Wright is confident star recruit James O’Connor will return from injury for Saturday’s Super Rugby clash with the Bulls.

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O’Connor missed last weekend’s gutsy four-point loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch due to an ankle injury.

Wright is yet to see the Wallabies back train this week but is sure he’ll be pushing for selection to face the South African team at Suncorp Stadium.

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“I think he’s pretty much right to go,” Wright said.

“I think he was close last week they just decided not to push it and that Isaac (Lucas) could get the job done as well.

“He’s probably looking pretty good for this week but if not we’ve got more than capable guys.”

Even without O’Connor the Reds put in a strong display against the New Zealand powerhouse last weekend, scoring four tries to the Crusaders’ three in a 24-20 defeat.

Wayward goalkicking proved costly for Wright’s team in what was their fifth defeat from six matches this season.

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That record doesn’t reflect the Reds’ performances this year and Wright admits he’s had enough of his team being seen as plucky losers.

“It’s not getting to get crisis point or anything. We’ve got a good draw coming home, versing a lot of Aussie conference teams as well which gives us points that we can take away from them if we win those games,” he said.

“We don’t want to be brave and lose the whole time. We want to get some results.”

– AAP

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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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