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Reds have a soft spot for Tahs - Turinui
By RUPERT GUINNESS - SMH | Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Reds have a soft spot for Tahs - Turinui - Rugby news & coverage - Stuff.co.nz
Queensland centre Morgan Turinui fears his former Waratahs teammates have every reason to view the Reds as mentally suspect ahead of their derby in Brisbane on Saturday night.
Turinui, who joined Queensland from NSW this year, believes the Reds gave up a possible upset win over Super 14 leaders the Crusaders on Saturday after leading 21-8 at one stage in the second half.
And he knows the Waratahs will view that as a weakness. The Reds allowed the Kiwis back into the game in the last 30 minutes at Suncorp Stadium when All Blacks Dan Carter, Ali Williams and Corey Flynn came on from the bench.
Then Queensland virtually threw the game away, with Digby Ioane and Ben Lucas yellow carded in the 65th and 68th minutes. The Crusaders, who have now booked a home semi-final, eventually won the game 27-21.
Turinui, who is off contract with Queensland after this year, was scathing of their errors, saying: "Simply put, it costs you the game. When you are playing the best provincial team in the world it is tough enough to beat them with 15 let alone 13.
"That game is probably a good snapshot of how far we have come, yet how far we still have to go and the shortcomings of the team. When we went to 13 men it was pretty much, 'We couldn't win the game'. It is a big call considering we were still in the lead."
Asked if he thought NSW would view that as a sign the Reds were ill-equipped to control a game for its entirety and susceptible to "brain explosions", Turinui said: "They certainly should.
"That was one of the things when I was at the Waratahs that we did. We felt if we played a full 80 minutes against the Reds they wouldn't be able to stick it out that long. This year the Reds have shown that we have not yet put 80 minutes together. [But] I suppose it would be somewhat dangerous to rely everything on that and to wait out the game."
The third-placed Waratahs must win against the 11th-placed Reds if they are to guarantee a spot in the semifinals, and Turinui has not forgotten his own role in 2005, when the Waratahs broke a nine-year winless drought against the Reds. Since then, NSW have won three interstate derbies in a row.
"When we had that tough trot against Queensland, the longer they stayed in the game the more worried we got. The anxiety created a lot of pressure on NSW," Turinui said.
"But that role has been reversed. It is an interesting game in itself now that NSW have won the last three [games] and Queensland have really struggled in these games. It will be interesting mentally, physically and tactically [how] both teams approach the game. NSW have won the game pretty much on attitude. It is a big attitude game for NSW."
Turinui says he has no regrets about moving to the Reds, despite the Waratahs being Super 14 title contenders.
"I don't regret it at all. I have really enjoyed my time up here," Turinui said. "You probably miss the people. There are a lot of really close friends. It will be strange running out against them. But I will be doing all I can to make it a bad night for NSW."
But having played in the Waratahs 2005 final and 2006 semi-final teams, Turinui admits it is hard to accept he might play a role in ensuring no Australian side makes the finals.
"That is a strange one," he said. "You don't know if you would like to tear them [NSW] down with all the rest of the provincial teams who have missed out from Australia or … From Australian rugby's point of view, we would like the Reds to win and maybe [for] the Waratahs to sneak in to the semis. But the psyche up here is, 'Queensland versus NSW'.
"They would be pretty proud, the Queensland-born people, [to say] if the Reds can't make the finals, stop the Waratahs."
Meanwhile, Reds halfback Sam Cordingley is desperately battling a calf injury to play his last game for Queensland before joining French side Grenoble.
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