Reds skipper Tate McDermott insists the side is targeting another win over the Chiefs in the Super Rugby Pacific quarter-finals as part of a send-off for outgoing head coach Brad Thorn.
McDermott’s side is the only team to beat the Chiefs this season and did so in New Plymouth during the regular season with a 25-22 scoreline.
More belief
The scrum-half acknowledged that the lineups on that day were different to this weekend and underlined that elevated belief will be required from his side.
“You can take a little bit of belief, but if you look at the team lists they’re pretty different,” McDermott told AAP.
“So we need the belief, but we need quite a bit more against a pretty good outfit.”
The 2023 playoffs mark the end of Thorn’s coaching stint in Queensland where he has been at the helm of the side for the last six years.
During that time the former All Black unearthed some impressive talent including McDermott and the star admits the team is looking to make him proud.
“For me and a lot of other fellas, he brought us all through and we owe him a lot,” McDermott said.
“We’ll be going out there thinking about Brad in the back of our minds.
“He’s been a terrific servant and we’ll be going out there trying to make him proud.”
Ready for another bite at it
Meanwhile, Chiefs co-captain Sam Cane admits the Reds were brilliant in their win in New Plymouth and looks forward to setting the record straight this weekend.
“We just came up against a really good Reds side that night,” Cane said.
“We weren’t quite as clinical but not much between the two teams.
“There might be a few boys in the squad pretty keen to have another crack at the Reds, but there’s no lack of motivation when it gets to this point of the season.
“I think they’ll just be throwing everything at it, both teams will.
“No point saving for anything else, so I think you’ll see a fairly big lift in intensity.”
READ MORE: Super Rugby Pacific Team Tracker: Ex-Wallaby’s son starts for Reds in crunch quarter-final
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