The Queensland Reds have passed their final pre-season test with flying colours, stunning the Crusaders 35-12 at Ballymore.
In a surprisingly encouraging performance a week out from their Super Rugby opener in Canberra, the injury-riddled Reds stormed out of the blocks on Friday night with a blistering four-try first half in front of an impressive crowd of 11,270.
They were steered admirably by Karmichael Hunt, who did enough in his 50 minutes at five-eighth to suggest he would get the nod against the Brumbies on Valentine’s Day.
Queensland coach Richard Graham came in for criticism during the week for his decision to throw the code-hopper into the No.10 role following an unconvincing performance from youngster Duncan Paia’aua in their first pre-season trial against the Melbourne Rebels in Cairns.
But he was more than vindicated, with Hunt not once looking out of place or out of his depth opposite the world’s best No.10, All Blacks star Dan Carter.
Hunt’s kicking was also pinpoint, landing all four conversions with the only blot a marginally offline penalty attempt just before halftime.
The Reds lacked any sort of fluency a week earlier but played with serious intent in the opening stanza after getting over an early patch of Crusaders dominance.
Nine minutes in, a moment of Will Genia ingenuity put the ball on a platter for Jamie-Jerry Taulagi, who slipped into the fullback position left vacant by Hunt.
Genia took a quick tap and then chipped perfectly for an onrushing Talugai to hightail it to the line and open the scoring.
From then on, it was all Reds.
As the Queensland forwards began exerting their influence, James Horwill put down back-to-back tries eight minutes apart – the first off a pick-and-go, the second on the back of a maul.
The home side were unfortunate not to be rewarded for a sensational stretch of running rugby down the right, in which the ball flicked through multiple pairs of hands only for Anthony Fainga’a to be pulled up centimetres short.
But a well-held scrum in the 35th minute pushed the Crusaders back and earned the Reds a penalty try.
Hunt nailed his fourth conversion from straight in front and it was 28-0 at the break – a scoreline few would have thought possible pre-match.
The Crusaders came back into calculations in the second half as Graham rang the changes, scoring tries either side of Hunt’s withdrawal for Paia’aua, who did well in the last half-hour.
The Reds added the icing on the cake five minutes from time, with substitute half Nick Frisby playing in Samu Kerevi and then slotting the conversion with ease.
