What's happened?

[shasta]

What a f@cking shower. I had taken no joy seeing them done over by Kiwi and Saffa teams despite the coach beind a duplicitous dud. But today no sympathy. They ran up the white flag big time. Happy to say we have not had to witness such a performance at NIB and with this bunch we win't.

[valzc]

The trouble is they were probably making the Crusaders look a whole lot better in that game. Defence seemed to be nonexistent! It was reminding me of some old Force team habits from previous games - gave me a sick feeling. Looks like Dick Graham hallmark alright - Link must be gobsmacked after leaving the Reds in what he thought would be an ok state. They actually did manage to play pretty well for sections of play & then lose the plot. Unfortunately makes the Crusaders look a lot more dangerous for the Force when they have to play them.

[Nic]

I think the contest between the Force and Crusaders will be a closer contest, even though we're playing them away.
It's a bit concerning to see them start to find form and dominate as the season draws closer to the finals.

[.X.]

The Mungo commentators did announce that Reds v Crusaders had been switched from Foxsports 1 - 3 about 5 minutes before kickoff.

[Rex Messup]

The Mungo commentators did announce that Reds v Crusaders had been switched from Foxsports 1 - 3 about 5 minutes before kickoff.

They could write on sterlo's chrome. Great advertising space.

[mothy]

Oh excellent point Alison

[jargan83]

Four years of blood, sweat and tears to rebuild the Reds so they would never again endure the shame of conceding 50 points at their fortress unravelled in an inept 20 minutes on Sunday.

The Mother’s Day Massacre at Suncorp Stadium left speechless the strong turnout of 34,010 fans who had roared the bold 17-16 lead at half-time as if an upset was taking shape.

Instead, the lame Reds crashed 57-29 by merrily feeding all the strengths of the Crusaders to concede 41 points in just 40 minutes across a shambolic second half.

At its worst, it was rubbish.

Rubbish kicking by Quade Cooper and Mike Harris, a rubbish kick-chase applying no pressure, rubbish positioning in defence by winger Jamie-Jerry Taulagi and a bunch of other errors produced a calamitous four-try retreat in the 20 minutes after half-time.

When former Reds boss Ewen McKenzie turned Queensland’s Super Rugby chumps of 2004-09 into proud fighters with rattling pride in defence in 2010, the dark days of 52-13 and 50-26 losses at home in 2009 seemed never to be repeated.

Sadly, here we are again and coach Richard Graham has serious questions to answer.

That the Reds reverted to one-out running, a string of chip-and-hope shockers from a desperate Cooper and tired defence in the second half was an embarrassing snapshot of how far the 2011 Super Rugby champions have fallen.

When Reds player masks were being handed out en masse to kids on Sunday, the big question was whether the Reds would play like the real thing at last or like impersonators behind cardboard faces themselves.

For the first half, Cooper, James Horwill, Dom Shipperley, Ant Faingaa and abrasive Ben Daley played in vivid technicolour with some of the team’s best passages of play this season, two excellent tries and a 17-16 lead.

Horwill and hooker James Hanson smashed Richie McCaw, high and low, to force a turnover. That’s the defence the Reds are known for.

There was a nice hint of ruthlessness too when Crusaders halfback Andy Ellis was sinbinned and the Reds hit them with two tries for 17-10.

Harris put young Taulagi over for his first Reds try and Cooper dished off a delightful, delayed short pass to Shipperley for his first try since 2012.

There were early hints of the horror story that followed because Harris and Cooper both threw wild passes wide of runners as if team confidence really had been fractured by four straight losses.

To start the second half, the Reds were asleep when prop Wyatt Crockett quick tapped and crashed over.

The Harris cross-kick two minutes later was poor but was made to look like a freebie when the Reds stood and looked at it while fullback Israel Dagg’s chip turned it into a try.

More here: http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/...-1226913388744

[SNOB]

Will RG last the season or once again will he be asked to move on! I almost feel sorry for the Reds Fans.

[Happy]

how was caxton st jono?

[Hoolly Doolly]

Thanks Foxtel. That worked out awesome on my iQ.

Yep me too. Got random olympic stuff instead. We pay for better service then that!

[Hoolly Doolly]

Classic RG....clearly its the players fault.....
“We asked questions of the Crusaders by putting the ball into the corners, applied physical and mental pressure and got the balance right with our running to lead at half-time,” Graham said.

“That 40 minutes was 17-16 our way. The 40 minutes where we went out and did things individually got us to a point where it was 40-odd points to 12 the other way.”

[Nic]

He really is a dunce.

[jono]

how was caxton st jono?

Loads of fun. Fair few bros there last night (shocking I know!)
Not too many reds fans after the game.

They def only sung when they were winning last night. The stadium emptied at about 50 minutes.
Pretty piss poor show from the fans to match a piss poor show by the reds.
All those bandwagon fans that came back in 11 have fallen right back off again

[Kept One]

Suncorp was so much fun today!
Even if I did have to dress nice

At least you had fun.

[Kept One]

What did RG say at half time? It was almost Jekyll and Hyde.