What Queensland Reds expect from Ardie Savea’s Moana Pasifika

Queensland Reds co-captain Tate McDermott is wary of a “fierce” Moana Pasifika side that’s headlined by the inclusion of marquee recruit Ardie Savea, who was among the standouts on debut for the club last weekend in their one-point loss to the Western Force.

After an opening round bye, the Queenslanders are preparing for a highly physical start to their season when they take the field on Friday night at their fortress, Suncorp Stadium. The Reds recently toured the UK, having put 80 points on Bristol Bears and also beating Ulster.

But with those pre-season matches up north now in the books, the Reds are mere hours away from a match that counts in their bid to win Super Rugby Pacific this season. Opponents Moana Pasifika have already shown signs of improvement, with Savea leading the charge.

Savea, 31, made the headline-grabbing decision to sign with Moana last July, with the club also adding other key recruits such as Wellington Lions first five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop, Tasman Mako playmaker William Havili, and former Wests Tigers flyer Solomon Alaimalo.

In Moana’s first match of the season, Savea led the way with a game-high 14 carries and the fourth-most stops on defence out of any player with 17. McDermott, who will lead the team solo this week in Liam Wright’s absence, highlighted the All Black’s impact before the match.

“Watching was tough, definitely. Such a good opening round of Super Rugby, every game down to the wire and yeah, it was tough to watch,” McDermott said.

“We’re chomping at the bit. We’re looking forward to playing Moana… we got a nice preview of them playing the Western Force last weekend and we can see what we know is they’ve improved a hell of a lot since last year.

“They’ve obviously added quite a bit to their squad, none bigger than Ardie and the way he’s leading that side is impressive. We’re expecting a fierce matchup like we always are against a team like Moana.”

Moana came agonisingly close to a round one win on the road, but it wasn’t to be as some individual brilliance from Western Force playmaker Ben Donaldson helped the hosts snatch a dramatic 37-36 win at Perth’s HBF Park.

Head-to-Head

Last 4 Meetings

Wins

3

Draws

0

Wins

1

Average Points scored

36

26

First try wins

75%

Home team wins

75%

While the visitors dominated the territory battle, they only held 21 per cent of possession during the last 10 minutes which came back to haunt them. The match appeared all-but won when Jonathan Taumateine scored with nine minutes to play, but the Force refused to give up.

Dylan Pietsch and Donaldson scored a try each inside the final five minutes, with the men from Western Australia completing an unforgettable comeback to round out the opening round. But almost one week on, Moana have another chance to return to winning ways.

“They’ll be disappointed with that,” McDermott added.

“Regardless of last weekend, we know they’re going to come to Suncorp raring to go.

“Personally I can’t wait to get out here with the boys and see all our supporters hopefully come out in numbers and it’s going to be a really good nice for us.”