Disappointed Graham praises Reds

Reds coach Richard Graham expressed his disappointment, but also had praise for his team - as they suffered their fifth consecutive defeat and sixth in seven Super Rugby outings.

A 14-man Reds team fell to a hard-fought 15-23 defeat to the Rebels in Melbourne on Friday.

The Reds started strongly with two tries within the first 13 minutes - to James Horwill and Jake Schatz - but the match turned on an incident in the 20th minute when Horwill was red-carded for striking an opponent at a breakdown.

The Reds coach, Graham, said while everyone was disappointed with the result, he couldn't help but be proud of the courage his team showed.

"I've got a range of emotions at the moment,"Graham said.

"I'm incredibly disappointed for the playing group whilst at the same time I'm extremely proud of their effort to guts it out.

"We played 60 minutes with only 14 men on the field and we were in it until the final five minutes," the coach added.

"The players stood up for each other and I thought they were exceptional for their commitment.

"You could see how much it meant to them. They played with a lot of pride.

"Our composure after the red card was very good.

"We had a clear idea of how we had to play the rest of the game, but unfortunately a couple of critical moments and a lopsided possession stat meant we couldn't build pressure in the final stages.

"The first 20 minutes of the game, when we had gained a 12-3 lead, we showed how we have wanted to play all season.

"The final 60 minutes, we showed the passion and resolve these men have when playing for Queensland.

"We need to latch onto the way we played in that first 20 and the courage we showed in the final 60 and carry that into our performances in South Africa."

The loss will only add to the pressure on the Reds coach, as Queensland fielded 13 internationals against the Rebels.

"I think we responded well [to Horwill's dismissal] and we showed a lot of character, but unfortunately we didn't get the result we wanted," Reds skipper James Slipper said.

"Playing with a man down a few things had to change and I thought we adapted well to it at times, and we held in for a fair chunk of that game and we fell down at the end with that last try."