Star recruit Adam Thomson has vowed the Queensland Reds forwards will “front up” against the Western Force after being embarrassed by the Brumbies.

Former All Blacks flanker will make his debut for the Reds in Saturday’s home Super Rugby clash, having watched on as his new teammates were belted in Friday’s 47-3 round one drubbing in Canberra.

Queensland desperately needs an injection of mettle from the hard-nosed 32-year-old, who will be playing his first Super Rugby match since departing the Highlanders after 2012 to move to Japan.

He promised on Wednesday to do all he could to reverse the fortunes of the Reds’ pack.

“It was embarrassing,” said Thomson.

“It’s a forwards area, the contact area, and no matter what you have to go out, be physical and you need to win those little battles.

“It’s pretty clear we lost that last week.

“There’s no hiding from the fact we just have to front up and we’ll be doing that this week.”

Thomson said he hoped his experience through 29 caps for the All Blacks and a seven-year Super Rugby career would assist Queensland’s younger forwards but warned his presence was not a silver bullet.

“I have been around a while and I have a lot of experience. But I don’t have experience in the Reds jersey,” he said.

“I want to go out there and I want to lead from the front with my actions rather than my words.”

Last week’s loss has ramped up the pressure on coach Richard Graham, who has conceded he got parts of their preparation wrong.

Thomson was confident it was merely a bad day for the Reds and said there was no need to panic at this early stage of the season.

“You don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater – you just get the little things right, get the attitude right, and it won’t take much to turn it around,” he said.

The Reds will name their team for Saturday night’s match on Thursday.

James O’Connor will come into the side along with Thomson and is expected to play at flyhalf, with Karmichael Hunt likely to shift to fullback to replace the injured Jamie-Jerry Taulagi.

Taulagi could miss as much as two months of rugby after suffering an MCL strain against the Brumbies while back-up playmaker Duncan Paia’aua is unavailable due to concussion.