Bulls left Red faced
Queensland avenged their 92-3 loss against last years champions with an emphatic 40-8 win over the Bulls.
Last Updated: 15/03/08 12:15pm
Queensland avenged their 92-3 loss against last years champions with an emphatic 40-8 win over the Bulls in the Super 14 clash in Brisbane.
The Bulls hammered the Reds in the last round in Pretoria last season to qualify for the Super 14 finals and then went on to win the championship.
The Reds responded in ruthless fashion as they bounced back from three consecutive losses to set the Suncorp Stadium alight.
Morgan Turinui crossed in the 72nd minute to notch the Reds' first four-try bonus point since 2006 and flanker John Roe drove over for the fifth two minutes from time.
Clinton Schifcofske and Derick Hougaard traded penalties to make it 3-3 after 17 minutes before the Reds went a man down for 10 minutes when full-back Chris Latham was sin-binned for stomping.
Latham made amends when he returned, charging into a gap after Turinui found space 30 meters out from broken play, and scoring untouched beside the posts.
Schifcofske converted and added another penalty to make it 13-3 at half-time.
Dominate
Winger Peter Hynes ran around under the posts four minutes after the break, capitalizing on sustained pressure inside the quarter following skipper Sam Cordingley's quick penalty tap.
De Preez scored against the run of play from 40 meters out to reduce the margin to 20-8 before the Reds rallied to dominate the remainder with Schifcofske, Turinui and Roe crossing for late tries.
Reds coach Phil Money revealed his delight with the win, and admitted his relief to finally get one back on the South African opponents.
"We've been hearing all this year about Pretoria, in the back of our minds this was payback," he said Reds.
"When we got in front, we really went to grind them down - we enjoyed that.
"The boys were fantastic. We've copped a lot of flack, so it's a great moment for Queensland rugby.
"Right from the kick-off, our young guys aimed up - pushed around the Bulls forwards and showed we were here to play. It was a real turning point for us."
