John Connolly
The Reds have played down the role of John Connolly in their miracle recovery and win over the Melbourne Rebels last week
In fact they put their much-needed victory over the Melbourne-based franchise down to the humbling they received in Christchurch just over a fortnight ago.
The Reds have been struggling to get out of the basement in Super Rugby, and after their 17 / 58 crushing at the hands of the 7-time champions, the Crusaders, the Queensland Rugby Union sent an SOS to former coach and Wallaby legend John Connolly.
Since Connolly’s arrival, last week, the Reds miraculously bounced back from their dreadful performances with a style of play that showed a lack of direction.
However, forwards coach Nick Stiles, almost suspiciously, played down Connolly’s influence in the Reds’ revival.
He put it down to the players not wanting a repeat episode of the Christchurch humiliation.
“Everyone lifted after the poor performance against the Crusaders,” Stiles said.
The forwards coach was quick to deny Connolly’s influence.
“He has had no involvement with set pieces, to be honest. He has come in as a coaching consultant and he is looking at areas from recruitment to how we play and train and give feedback.
“That (losing to the Crusaders) was more of a motivating factor than getting Connolly involved.”
Reds’ prop Greg Holmes, who played under Connolly during his time at the helm of the Wallabies, was also quick to point out that the Reds were bound to play as well as they did against the Rebels with or without Connolly around.
“It was nothing major, it was just someone coming in with a different perspective,” explained Holmes.
“If he didn’t come in we would have always performed that well after the loss against the Crusaders.
“He just spoke to the individuals, and told us what had to happen, and the guys reacted and got the job done.”
Connolly has almost 20 years of experience coaching at the elite level and was head coach of the Reds during a golden era from 1989 to 2000, during which time they won Super Six (1992) and Super 10 (1994, 1995) titles.
Looking forward to the clash against the Sharks, Holmes insists the Reds are not resting on their laurels of a stunning victory against the Rebels, and they are looking to improve physically to match-up to the Sharks game.
“The Sharks have got a big forward pack, and their set-piece dominance gets them over the line in a lot of games,” added Holmes.
“So we want to take them on up front and hopefully the backs can do the job again.”
Stiles explained that it will be a long day at the office if the Reds don’t man-up for a physical, set-piece orientated game.
“The Sharks are very dangerous if you let them get on the front foot,” said Stiles.
“When you have the Du Plessis brothers up front, thrown in with their big loose forwards, any team with that firepower is dangerous.
“We have to be on our best behaviour in those areas or it will be a tough game.”
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