McKenzie defends Genia move
July 23, 2012 11:55:54 UK
Head coach Ewen McKenzie remained defiant over his decision to move star Will Genia, despite seeing the Reds dumped out of the finals.
McKenzie switched Genia to fly-half and later insisted the tactic was the correct one, despite a 30-17 defeat to the Sharks in Melbourne.
Will went to 10 and went to 10 last time we played the Sharks, so we've been practising that scenario.
Ewen McKenzie
The shock tactic, though, was criticied by Sharks coach John Plumtree, who felt Mike Harris should have played at No.10 after Ben Lucas was replaced after damaging his ankle in the first half.
McKenzie said: "Like we've learned this year we've always got Plan B and C and we went to that.
"Will went to 10 and went to 10 last time we played the Sharks, so we've been practising that scenario.
"That was fine and we were prepared for that and we got the flow we needed.
"We wanted to fatigue them, we wanted to move them around and we were doing that. We couldn't control it completely in the end so it got a bit frustrating."
Genia threw the intercepted pass for Charl McLeod's match-deciding try, but he also scored one of his own and seemed comfortable at fly-half.
The Sharks are available at 3.00 to win the Grand Final, with the Crusaders 8.00.
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