Reds need to be ruthless, says young first five

Brisbane: Young gun Isaac Lucas says the Reds are realising they need to play with ruthless consistency if they are to turn around their Super Rugby fortunes this season.

Queensland faces a massive challenge over the next fortnight, backing up from their opening loss in Canberra- and the loss of hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa - at altitude in Johannesburg against the Lions this week before heading to Argentina to take on the Jaguares.

“Obviously with Canberra last week, South Africa this week and then Argentina next week, that’s three countries in three weeks, so it is pretty tough but it’s a challenge that we’re all liking and excited for,” Lucas said. The Reds were handed a lesson by the Australian conference Brumbies in Canberra on Friday, with the home side rebounding from a 10-point halftime deficit to notch a 27-24 victory after playing at a higher level with greater consistency in the second term.

“The start was very challenging, they threw a lot at us and I thought the way we rebounded to get through that initial 10 minutes and then come away with the halftime lead (was encouraging),” Lucas said.

“But we can’t rest on our laurels in that second half. We let them get away with a bit too much but we’re looking forward to this week.

“We’ve just got to keep the foot on the throttle. In Super Rugby, you can’t let go and you saw that in the second half - we had a rough period in the second half and they got 14 points. Just little things like that are massive learning things for me.”