Qld Reds spirits still high
March 12, 2001

The Reds may have let a second game slip out of their grasp in as many weeks, but coach Mark McBain is putting on a brave face.

In fact, McBain has plenty to be happy about after the nail-biting 39-25 loss to the Auckland Blues in Albany on Sunday.

McBain finally saw the some of his dynamic backs with room to move and though the side improved on the problems exposed by the Chiefs the previous week. The Reds managed to pick up two bonus points - one for losing within seven points and a second for scoring four tries.

"It's disappointing anytime you lose like that but I'm pretty happy because we have a good team that has shown it can be dangerous," McBain told AAP. "I wasn't disappointed in the effort and it's pretty obvious to see that we improved from last week.

"We're somewhere down the track and you have to remember that at the same time last year the guys didn't have a point."

Last season the Reds lost their opening three games before surging home only to miss a semi-final spot by the smallest of margins.

The Reds and Blues have played some cracking games in recent years, and this game was no different with 10 tries and two backlines intent of showing up the other. A fine performance by referee Tappe Henning also allowed the game to open up.

"I really thought we had to score back-to-back tries to finish them off and we couldn't get there," McBain said.

"We missed some tackles, we dropped some ball and we were poor in a couple of lineouts but there was no way I was disappointed with the effort."

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