Reds clean up at FxPro Super Rugby Awards for second straight year

The St.George Queensland Reds have cleaned up at the 2012 FxPro Super Rugby Awards with scrumhalf Will Genia winning his second consecutive Australian Super Rugby Player of the Year accolade and the Reds collecting the Australian Team of the Year for winning the Australian conference.

Genia was a standout for the Reds in 2012 where he played all 1360 minutes of their campaign and was captain during the team’s final three regular season matches and home Qualifying Final after a season ending injury to James Horwill.

Genia secured the award by a single vote after polling three votes in the final home and away match of the year to edge out Reds backrower Scott Higginbotham by one point.

After winning the award for the second season running Genia becomes just the third player to achieve the feat, joining former Wallabies flanker George Smith and former Reds fullback Chris Latham as the only other players to go back-to-back.

The Reds have collected four of the five awards on offer at Thursday’s annual ceremony in Sydney with Ewen McKenzie also winning Australian Coach of the Year for a second consecutive season while Reds winger Dom Shipperley’s try-scoring effort against the Melbourne Rebels in round 16 has been recognised as the Try of the Year.

Shipperley finished off an incredible 80-metre team effort when he took full advantage of some great lead-up work which involved a tighthead scrum, chip-and-chase from Mike Harris and slick hands from both centre Anthony Faingaa and rookie winger Chris F’Sautia.

   > Watch Dom Shipperley’s Try of the Year here - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=361651887241842.

For two years running Queensland has dominated the Super Rugby Awards after their championship-winning heroics last season were duly rewarded with the Reds taking out half of the awards on offer in 2011.

This year the Reds were deserved winners of all but one award with ACT Brumbies outside back Joseph Tomane winning Rookie of the Year.

Despite coming up short in their title defence, the Reds have again achieved numerous individual and team performance milestones during a season which had 11 regular season wins and included seven victories from eight matches against Australian Conference rivals.

The Reds also continued their strong record against New Zealand opposition by winning three of their four matches while a six-match winning streak to end the regular season saw Queensland top the Australian Conference and host a Qualifying Final at Suncorp Stadium against the Sharks.

It wasn’t until the final regular season game that the Reds managed to secure their home final with a 32-16 victory over the Waratahs, recording their first four-try bonus point win over New South Wales since 2003.

An Australian season high crowd of 41,533 witnessed the Reds five-tries-to-two triumph over the Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium, seeing their regular season average crowd attendance for 2012 rise a healthy 16 per cent to a record 34,218 while membership also increased by more than 100 per cent to a record 32,000-plus members.

Three pieces of silverware were earned during 2012 and will reside at St.George Ballymore Rugby House’s trophy cabinet during the offseason – the Australian Conference trophy, Rod Macqueen Cup (Brumbies) and Templeton Cup (NSW).

The Reds won the Rod Macqueen Cup for the first time since its inception in 2005 after sweeping the Brumbies in their two game series, firstly 20-13 at Suncorp Stadium in round seven before a gutsy 13-12 display in Canberra in round 14.

The victory over the Brumbies at Suncorp Stadium was Queensland’s first ever win against their ACT-based rivals at the venue in Super Rugby.

The Reds refused to relinquish the Templeton Cup trophy they won in 2011 by successfully defending it in the first and last round encounters of the Super Rugby regular season competition against the Waratahs.

Other team milestones included Queensland’s first ever Super Rugby win at Eden Park while a perfect start to the season with three straight wins against the Waratahs, Force and Rebels equalled the record-setting efforts of the great Queensland side of 1999.

There were also a number of standout individual player achievements throughout the season and none more so than the goal kicking efforts of centre Mike Harris, who broke South African sharpshooter Morne Steyn’s goal kicking record of 21 successful attempts in a row when he calmly slotted his 24th consecutive goal against the Western Force in round two.

Harris also successfully kicked nine goals at Suncorp Stadium that night to equal the feat of Queensland great John Eales set in back in 1996 for goals kicked in a single match.

Shipperley’s try against the Rebels was announced at the Try of the Year although arguably his biggest try-scoring contribution was his first five-pointer of the season, a 70-metre runaway effort after the final siren in Sydney to sink the Waratahs 25-21.

Shipperley ended the season with eight tries, equal second on Queensland’s all-time Super Rugby season try-scoring list alongside Tim Horan and behind only Chris Latham’s 10 tries scored in 2002.

The Reds unearthed a host of young talent in 2012 with seven players making their Queensland debuts: Nick Frisby (Rd 4 v Sharks), Joel Rapana (Rd 6 v Force), Nathan Eyres-Brown (Rd 6 v Force), Sam Lane (Rd 7 v Brumbies), Chris F’Sautia (Rd 13 v Lions), Blake Enever (Rd 16 v Rebels) and Jarrad Butler (Rd 17 v Highlanders).

Of the group, it was scrumhalf Frisby and outside back F’Sautia who made the biggest impact with the rookie duo both scoring in their debut games while Frisby featured at scrumhalf for 60 minutes of the Reds Qualifying Final against the Sharks when injury forced Genia to shift to the number 10 jersey.

The experience within the Reds squad also grew considerably and five players received the honour of reaching their milestone 50th game for Queensland.

They were Scott Higginbotham (Rd 1 v Waratahs), Digby Ioane (Rd 10 v Blues), Saia Faingaa (Rd 16 v Rebels), Ben Lucas (Rd 17 v Highlanders) and Ben Daley (Rd 18 v Waratahs).

The Reds conquered much adversity in season 2012 however, through adversity comes strength…strength comes in numbers.  2013 starts now!

St.George Queensland Reds 2012 Team Highlights

• Reds dominate Australian Conference rivals with seven victories from eight matches against national opposition.

• Reds win the Australian Conference following a six-game winning streak to end the regular season, including a 32-16 bonus-point victory over the NSW Waratahs in round 18 in front of a Australian season high crowd of 41,533.

• Reds regular season average crowd attendances were up a healthy 16 per cent to a record 34,218.

• Reds membership increased by more than 100 per cent from 15,626 members in 2011 to a record 32,000-plus members in 2012.

• Reds win the Rod Macqueen Cup for the first since its inception in 2005 after sweeping the Brumbies in their two-game series.

• Reds defend the Templeton Cup twice with victories against the Waratahs in the first and final round of the regular season.

• Reds win at Eden Park for the first time in Super Rugby, beating the Blues 23-11 in round 10.

• Reds equal the efforts of the great Queensland team of 1999 by winning their opening three games of the season.

St.George Queensland Reds 2012 debutants (7): Nick Frisby (Rd 4 v Sharks), Joel Rapana (Rd 6 v Force), Nathan Eyres-Brown (Rd 6 v Force), Sam Lane (Rd 7 v Brumbies), Chris F’Sautia (Rd 13 v Lions), Blake Enever (Rd 16 v Rebels) and Jarrad Butler (Rd 17 v Highlanders).

St.George Queensland Reds to reach 50-game milestone (5): Scott Higginbotham (Rd 1 v Waratahs), Digby Ioane (Rd 10 v Blues), Saia Faingaa (Rd 16 v Rebels), Ben Lucas (Rd 17 v Highlanders) and Ben Daley (Rd 18 v Waratahs).