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A CRAZY Super Rugby round with four upsets has heads spinning but not half as much as those in the Reds bunker pondering how to fix the calamitous start in Canberra.
The 44-point loss to the ACT Brumbies highlighted new problems and some worrying old ones for the Reds who have a nine-game struggle ahead while Quade Cooper is injured.
Just how much subtlety and precision disappears from the attack without him was driven home last Friday night when the Reds didn't make a single line break compared to the eight of the ACT Brumbies.
One of the most frustrating sights of a struggling team is how huge effort manifests itself for no reward. It was those one-out runs that the Reds made no progress with against an organised defence like the Brumbies.
Lack of line-busting power from the forwards was a huge flaw last season and it was exposed again with backrowers Jake Schatz and Curtis Browning never showing the knack.
Curtis Browning and his Reds teammates failed to break the Brumbies line. Source: Getty Images
It was less of a surprise than some might think because it was largely the same faces in the pack because new turbo Adam Thomson didn't play and Japanese Test backrower Hendrik Tui is not due to arrive until next month.
The Reds have shredded all expectations about themselves for this season with that lamentable 80 minutes in Canberra which must light a fuse of healthy anger to produce an immediate turnaround.
It's ridiculous to judge a footy team on one performance but the shake-up in intensity, discipline and organisation must be immediate to produce a bounce-back against the Western Force at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
Playing two bull-at-a-gate centres like Samu Kerevi and Chris Feauai-Sautia might work if you have plenty of passing dexterity around them. They desperately need two playmakers to unlock their best and show them the holes to exploit.
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Picking James O'Connor at flyhalf and Karmichael Hunt at fullback is the best fit for the Reds. You get the most experienced available man at No. 10 and Hunt to operate out wide with some passing touches too.
Perhaps the player missed most in Canberra was experienced centre Anthony Faingaa, who always leads up the backline defence with aggression and organises so well. Both were missing elements.
This is going to be a wildly fluctuating pre-World Cup season if five wins on the road in the first round is the yardstick.
The Cheetahs knocking off the Sharks in Durban was almost as big a shock as the Rebels storming Christchurch for a brilliant breakthrough win and the Force upset of the NSW Waratahs in Sydney.
It's now up to the Reds to flip the form book, transform in a week and knock off the Force or the alarm bells for this season will be sounding.
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