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Kerevi confident ahead of Hurricanes clash

Cape Town - Although the Reds have made a poor start to the season, Samu Kerevi feels they can deliver a good showing against the Hurricanes in Brisbane on Saturday. 

The powerful Wallaby centre is adamant the Reds can compete with the champions if they play their "brand" of rugby.

After losing four out of five matches so far, they will need to play that brand against the Canes who are refreshed, relaxed and raring to go after enjoying a bye last weekend.

Perhaps the only evidence the Reds can play at the level required to compete with the best of the best was their performance against the Crusaders, where they were beaten in heartbreaking fashion after the final siren.

They were nowhere near that level against the Jaguares at the weekend, nor were they against the Lions in the week prior.

But Kerevi, who along with Karmichael Hunt provided a rare spark for the Reds in the 22-8 loss in Buenos Aires, remains confident his team can piece together some rugby that will challenge one of the best teams in Super Rugby on Saturday night.

"There’s plenty of room for improvement but if we stick to our game plan and the structures that we have been sticking to all throughout preseason and throughout the week, I think we will put ourselves in a better position than we have in the past couple of weeks," he told the Australian Rugby Union's official website.

"We need to stick to what we are practicing all week and under pressure we are going away from that.

"It’s the discipline, we’ve got to be disciplined enough to our structures."

The Reds were woeful defensively in the first 40 minutes against the Jaguares, falling off 14 tackles and allowing the Jaguares back three to slice through their line from standing starts.

Coach Nick Stiles ripped into his team at half-time and Kerevi said they must lift in that space against a Hurricanes team that has more tries and line breaks than any other in Super Rugby.

"We looked at it defensively and for us it’s getting those one-on-one’s, getting in a good position to make those one-on-one tackles, that’s what let us down in the Jaguares game," he added.

"It’s something we want to work on this week, especially against a team like the Hurricanes, we want to be on point with that.

"The bond of the boys is going really well but we just need to get it from the training paddock to the game."

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