Kerevi rest on hold as Reds chase redemption

REST breaks can wait because Samu Kerevi is desperate to be part of the Reds’ first win in Durban in 15 years with a side that has copped a deserved rev.

Defensive coach Peter Ryan said yesterday that the players were disgusted with their losing 32-17 performance against the Bulls last weekend.

You can add Ryan’s own disgust to that because nothing stings a defensive coach more than having the opposition run through 35 missed tackles.

“If you asked any one of the players we would all say we were pretty disgusted with our performance,” Ryan said.

“And there’s no excuse for the way that we played.

“If our defence is as it was last week, they’ll put 50 points on us clearly and easily.”

It was expected that centre Kerevi would be spelled from this game but he is so integral to grabbing a vital upset that he will miss a match later in the season.

Never has coach Brad Thorn’s faith in his youth policy been so obvious.

No.8 Scott Higginbotham is 32 but no one else in the starting pack has had a 23rd birthday.

“Apart from Scott, the starting forward pack all played Queensland Under-20s with each other and have all worked and grown together,” Thorn said.

Young 111kg prop Harry Hoopert, 20, faces a trial by fire in his first start because he gives away 18kg to Springbok prop Coenie Oosthuizen, a hardened 30-Test campaigner.

Hoopert’s work in open play has been impressive but his huge challenge here is to make the scrum secure when the heat comes on as it will.