Cheetahs 8
Winger Rod Davies and scrumhalf Will Genia scored two tries each as the Queensland Reds thrashed South Africa's Cheetahs 41-8 in Super 15 rugby on Saturday.
Davies touched down twice in the first half as the Reds banked a bonus point before halftime - their second four-try bonus in consecutive matches as they remain Australia's best-performed team this season.
Genia scored twice in the second half, completing a double after the fulltime siren to allow the Reds to follow up last week's record 53-3 win over the Melbourne Rebels.
MATCH STATS
SUPER 15 STANDINGS
The Reds fed on a steady stream of Cheetahs' errors, scoring most of their six tries from turnovers which were exploited by the opportunism of Genia and Quade Cooper.
They also blew a number of try-scoring chances and managed only two tries to one in the second after leading 29-3 at halftime.
"It's a good way to start the South African leg of our campaign," said Queensland captain James Horwill who returned after a two-week layoff with an ankle injury.
"We knew we had to build pressure...and we were really pleased in the first half with the way we did that and the points came towards the end there."
The Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs were coming off last week's upset win over the New South Wales Waratahs but were unable to control the pace of the match as they did in Sydney.
Though their set pieces were sound, and their scrum dominant, the Cheetahs weren't able to impose themselves on the match from those areas. When the Reds forced turnovers, they were able to open the match up and the Cheetahs were left struggling to close down the attacking threat posed by Cooper and his wingers.
The Cheetahs led with a 12th minute penalty to flyhalf Sias Ebersohn but the Reds wrested back the lead with a 15th minute try to winger Digby Ioane and were never headed.
Davies scored his first try in the 21st minute after a big tackle by Horwill forced a midfield turnover. He added his second 10 minutes later after Ioane and Cooper had created space in an attack which sprawled from halfway.
Hooker Saia Faingaa wrestled the ball over from a goal line maul for the bonus point try two minutes before halftime.
Genia dashed 50 meters for his first try after 59 minutes, giving the Reds a 34-3 lead. The match meandered for some time before Cheetahs captain Wilhelm Steenkamp, who had spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin for a high tackle, scored his team's only try.
Genia sealed an emphatic Reds performance with his second try after the final siren.
"You must turn up every Saturday. There are no easy games in the Super 15 and you must make your first-time tackles," Steenkamp said.
Queensland Reds 41 (Rod Davies 2, Will Genia 2, Saia Faingaa, Digby Ioane tries Quade Cooper 3, Michael Harris cons Cooper pen) bt Cheetahs 8 (Wilhelm Steenkamp try Sias Ebersohn pen drop goal) at Suncorp Stadium. Referee: Keith Brown. Crowd: 19,579.
- AAP
