Reds' attitude in need of overhaul
Queensland coach Eddie Jones says his side's woeful Super 14 season is the result of poor attitude instead of a lack of talent.
The Reds slumped to their eighth-straight defeat last night when they were thrashed
59-16 by the Sharks at Lang Park, keeping them firmly entrenched on the bottom of the ladder.
Their sole win came back in round one when they produced a solid performance to beat the Hurricanes 25-16 at home.
The Reds were competitive for much of the first half against the Sharks, but lazy execution when in possession deep inside opposition territory proved costly.
They trailed 17-10 at half-time before conceding six tries in the second period as the Sharks ran rampant for their seventh win from nine starts.
Jones said the Reds would not improve this season unless they had a change of attitude and played for the entire 80 minutes.
"These are attitudinal issues we've got, they're not footballing issues and until we get the attitudinal issues right we can't get the footballing issue right," he said.
"You've got to work hard in a game and you've got to be physical and if you don't do that it doesn't matter what else you've got in your artillery, it's not going to work."
Jones said he could not draw any positives from his side's performance, believing last night's result was a true reflection of where they stood in the Super 14.
"We're the worst team in the competition, we deserve to be where we are and we're not going to get better until we change our attitude," he said.
"The supporters that walked out, I wouldn't expect to see them back. We should be giving them their money back.
"We let everyone down today - ourselves, our supporters, the union. It was pretty poor."
Jones' harsh assessment of the Reds was not shared by his Sharks counterpart Dick Muir.
Muir said despite the magnitude of the scoreline, the Sharks were made to work hard for the bonus-point win.
"I think they probably tested us the most in the first half and had the most line-breaks against our defence with the angles that they ran," he said.
"The guys (Reds) never stopped trying. I think they're far better than that, than what the score reflects."
Scrum thoughts
The clash with the Reds was the Sharks' third straight against an Australian opponent, the Durban-based franchise having suffered defeats to the Brumbies and the Western Force in the previous two weeks.
The string of matches gave Muir the chance to analyse the strength of the Australian scrums and although the Sharks almost pulled off a pushover try in the opening five minutes against the Reds, he does not believe Wallabies coach John Connolly should be worried about his front row stocks.
"I must be honest and say I though they would be weaker, the Australian scrums, in that we've got a really good front row, it's a Springbok front row we have," he said.
"The new law has not allowed us to dominate as much as we would have liked to have dominated. So, I don't think there is any reason for John to panic as far as the front row forwards in Australia are concerned."
The Sharks travel to New Zealand to meet competition leaders the Blues in Albany next weekend while the Reds must re-group for the traditional grudge match against New South Wales in Sydney on Saturday night.
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