The Reds were fortunate to have escaped with a 18-12 win over the Hurricanes in their Super Rugby encounter in Brisbane on Friday.
Outscoring the visitors by two tries to nil and with a 18-9 lead going into the last half-an-hour, the Reds were forced to hang on desperately in the end.
The biggest problem for the Hurricanes was their poor set-piece play. Not only were they scrummed into the turf by the Reds at times, with a crucial try early in the second half coming from a scrum turnover, but the visitors' line-outs were just as shocking.
The Reds let themselves down through some poor ball control, although their energy levels ensured they had the better try-scoring opportunities.
Beauden Barrett and Quade Cooper exchanged early penalties, before the first-half's only try - a poor restart collect by the Hurricanes gifting the Reds a penalty. They set up a line-out and from there the Reds went route one, with a wave and pick-and-drives and sucking in the defence, before the ball was spun to the left where Digby Ioane squeaked in at the corner.
For most the first half was a very stop-start affair and by half-time the Reds held on to a two-point (11-9) lead.
The first points of the second half, a Rob Simmons try, came after the Hurricanes failed to control a scrum ball inside their 22 and the Reds quickly pounced. Cooper's conversion made it 18-9, with half-an-hour to go.
Barrett managed to pull three points back just a few minutes short of the final quarter, following a shoulder (no arms) tackle by Saia Faingaa.
The Hurricanes then threw everything into attack, but were again their own worst enemies.
More to follow...
The scorers:
For the Reds:
Tries: Ioane, Simmons
Con: Cooper
Pens: Cooper 2
For the Hurricanes:
Pens: Barrett 4
Teams:
Reds: 15 Aidan Toua, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Ben Lucas, 8 Jake Schatz, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Eddie Quirk, 5 Ed O'Donoghue, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 James Slipper (captain), 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Albert Anae, 18 Adam Wallace-Harrison, 19 Radike Samo, 20 Nick Frisby, 21 Mike Harris, 22 Luke Morahan.
Hurricanes: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Conrad Smith (captain), 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Brad Shields, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Victor Vito, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Ben Franks.
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu'u, 17 Reggie Goodes, 18 James Broadhurst, 19 Faifili Levave, 20 Chris Smylie, 21 James Marshall, 22 Reynold Lee-Lo.
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Andrew Lees (Australia), Damien Mitchelmore (Australia)
TMO: Steve Leszczynski (Australia)
