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Reds name surprise debutants for season-opener against Highlanders

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

The Reds have named their side for their season-opening clash against the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on Friday.

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Samu Kerevi will captain the side from the midfield after attaining the leadership duties for the season, and will be supported by vice-captain Izack Rodda in the second row.

They are among seven Wallabies named in the starting side, with Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Taniela Tupou, Caleb Timu, Sefa Naivalu and Chris Feauai-Sautia also set to provide international experience.

Naivalu will be making his Queensland debut from the left wing following his transfer from the Rebels in the off-season, as will fullback Bryce Hegarty, who has moved north from the Waratahs.

The duo won’t be the only debutants, with Feao Fotuaika set to make his first Super Rugby appearance from loosehead prop.

Fraser McReight and Isaac Lucas are also in line to make their debuts at this level after being named on the bench.

The side also features young halves pairing Moses Sorovi and Hamish Stewart, a pair of which Highlanders head coach Aaron Mauger highlighted as potential threats.

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“Hamish Stewart, they’ve got Moses Sorovi at nine, who performed really well in their pre-season games, and starting to take a bit of confidence and lead their team around, so they’ll be a very tough challenge this week,” he told RugbyPass earlier today.

Reds head coach Brad Thorn said he was excited to see his new men in action.

“As a group, we congratulate all the new men on their Queensland selection,” he said.

“It’s good to see two young guys like Fraser and Isaac come through the Queensland pathway and progress their rugby to the next level. They’ve really impressed us during the pre-season and have been rewarded for their hard work.

“Bryce has been rock-solid since joining us. He offers versatility in the backline and is a great communicator, while we’re excited to see Sefa show off his skills for the first time in a maroon jersey. The two of them bring good experience and have been great around the group.

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“The Highlanders are a quality team. It’s tough to win in Dunedin, so we’ll need to be at our best and execute what we’ve worked on.”

Reds team to play the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday:

1. Feao Fotuaika
2. Brandon Paenga-Amosa
3. Taniela Tupou
4. Izack Rodda (vc)
5. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto
6. Angus Scott-Young
7. Liam Wright
8. Caleb Timu
9. Moses Sorovi
10. Hamish Stewart
11. Sefa Naivalu
12. Samu Kerevi (c)
13. Jordan Petaia
14. Chris Feauai-Sautia
15. Bryce Hegarty

Reserves:

16. Alex Mafi
17. Harry Hoopert
18. Ruan Smith
19. Harry Hockings
20. Fraser McReight
21. Tate McDermott
22. Duncan Paia’aua
23. Isaac Lucas

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Flankly 1 minute 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 10 minutes 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
N
Nickers 39 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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