Chiefs rout the Reds in Super Rugby

May 6, 2017 - 10:45 AM Consistency remains the bane of Queensland Reds coach Nick Stiles' existence, after his side again failed to compete for the full eighty minutes in their 46-17 loss to the Chiefs.

After trailing by just eight points at halftime, the Reds let in three tries in thirteen minutes straight after the break, in what is becoming an all-too familiar story for the Queensland side.

"It's a common theme for us at the moment," Stiles said post-match in the New Zealand city of New Plymouth.

"We're competing for the first half of games, and for some reason we come out in the second half and just our ability to win those one-percenters and do the basic things well just drops off, and it ruins any flow of the game that we have."

Stiles isn't pointing the finger at the squad's experienced players though, and says the output from the likes of Stephen Moore, George Smith and Scott Higginbotham is not of concern.

"I thought 'Higgers' was great tonight, particularly his carrying of the ball," Stiles said.

"I thought Quade (Cooper), particularly in the first half, was able to keep us in the game through good field position. When we had to change it up in the second half and start playing more, we just lacked options outside him and that's not Quade's problem at all.

"I'm getting good performances out of (the senior players), it's just the consistency from everyone; the experienced, the middle guys, and the rookies."

Admitting to feeling frustrated as the game blew out after the Reds had competed well in the first half, Stiles conceded that the challenge for his side will be the way they react when things don't go their way in games.

"It's a combination of lot of things; pressure from good opposition teams forces you into mistakes at times, and probably our resilience. Our resilience to overcome those errors, or a try, is where we're lacking at the moment."

"The first forty was good, but we're sick of talking about forty minutes of football. I want to come off and talk about eighty minutes of really good, disciplined performance."

The six tries to three loss extended the run of Australian losses to New Zealand Super Rugby teams to 22 matches.

The last win came in round 14 of 2016, when the Waratahs beat the Chiefs in Sydney.

Source: AAP