Reds get ready for hot-stepping Hurricanes Having stood up to and at times over the Waratahs' Wallabies-strength pack, coach Ewen McKenzie says Queensland face an equally important challenge of overcoming one of their Super Rugby bogey teams the Hurricanes on Friday night. The Reds' lesser-known forwards muscled up against the Waratahs, displaying character and aggression after NSW threatened to pull off a stirring comeback from 17-3 down in Saturday night's interstate derby. However, Queensland held their nerve after NSW got back to 17-all to triumph in a physical battle 25-17. Relentless flanker Ed Quirk set up the match-winning try for stand-in captain Ben Tapuai with six minutes remaining to secure a bruising win on a humid night when some players lost up to six kilograms in body fluids. If the form guide is right, Friday's home clash with the Hurricanes will be just as enthralling but far more open with the New Zealand side renowned for backing their attack from any part of the field. "They really improved last year - I think they outscored everyone else by 15 tries," said McKenzie on Monday. They know how to score a try so you have to play against them in a specific way. We've had good patches against them but we haven't been able to grind out a game. It may not fit into other people's calender as important, but (the Hurricanes game) is important to us because we haven't had a good track record against them so we're really keen to do well. Veteran tight forward Ed O'Donoghue, who played for Queensland for the first time in five years as an import having played abroad for Ireland A, said the Queensland forwards brought a hard edge to last week's game. The aggressive 30-year-old relished the opportunity to fill in for injured Wallaby James Horwill having grown up in suburban Rosalie, a lineout throw from Suncorp Stadium. "This is my state and I'm just honoured I've got another crack at it having grown up around the corner from Lang Park," he said. O'Donoghue paid tribute to his teammates saying to get the better of such a quality pack and withstand the Tahs' second-half revival spoke volumes about the Reds' character. "They (NSW) are a great team, so to get a win over them after they put so much pressure on us in the second half shows there's a lot of heart in the group," he said.