Injuries may have cruelled the Queensland Reds’ attacking potency, but Western Force skipper David Pocock says his team will be made to pay if they let their guard down in Saturday night’s Super Rugby showdown in Perth.
The Reds were humiliated 61-8 by the Bulls last week, and will again have to rely on fourth-choice five-eighth Dallan Murphy due to their spate of backline injuries.
Despite Queensland’s seemingly dire predicament, Pocock is bracing his team for a fierce backlash, claiming the Reds remained a formidable outfit despite missing key personnel.
“For the defending champions to be put away with that sort of scoreline … they’ll be stinging from that,” Pocock said on Friday.
“We’re expecting a pretty fired-up Reds team to come out here.
“They did it tough in South Africa but they’re the kind of team that if you give them space, they’re very dangerous.
“They’ve had it tough with injuries, particularly around the flyhalf position.
“Any team that has that amount of injuries is vulnerable.
“But having said that, guys like Will Genia and Scott Higginbotham can really spark something out of nothing.”
It’s not just Queensland who have been hit hard by the injury bug this season, with the Force also dealing with a mini-crisis in their backline.
Key backs Cameron Shepherd (leg), Napolioni Nalaga (ankle) and Pat Dellit (leg) are still out injured, while centre Will Tupou (hamstring) and halfback Justin Turner (knee) joined the growing casualty ward last week.
After a 1-4 start to the season, it’s now or never for the Force.
Pocock hopes a run of four consecutive home games will help spark a significant surge up the ladder.
“It’s hugely important in this competition to win at home,” Pocock said.
“Teams that do well genuinely win the majority of games at home and then pick up a few on the road.
“That’s key for us in the next four weeks – to win games at home.
“It’s also important to win games in your conference.
“We’ve really got to win against the Reds.”
The battle of the breakdown will be a key feature of the match.
Queensland nullified the Force’s star-studded back-row in their 40-10 trial win over the Force last month, but Wallabies trio Pocock, Richard Brown and Matt Hodgson are confident of reversing that result on Saturday.