Bulls 30
Quade Cooper produced the party tricks, Luke Morahan the finishing and Digby Ioane the breakdancing as the Queensland Reds celebrated life at the top of the Super Rugby standings on Saturday night.
Queensland clinched a sixth straight win, their equal longest streak in the professional era, with a 39-30 victory over the defending champion Bulls at their Suncorp Stadium fortress.
The scoreline flattered Victor Matfield's team from Pretoria as the dazzling Reds revelled in their high-tempo, ball-in-hand game to score six tries to three in front of 30,000 fans.
Only the wayward goalkicking of Cooper, who was on song in every other department, kept the match from blowing out much earlier than when skipper James Horwill sealed the result by barging over in the 74th minute.
The celebrations will be toned down immediately by coach Ewen McKenzie with a clash with bogey team NSW just seven days away but their ninth straight win at Suncorp deserved the in-goal breakdancing winger Ioane provided when he finished a 90m counterattack in the 65th minute.
Fullback-winger Morahan challenged playmaker Cooper, who dug deep into his bag of tricks, for man-of-the-match honours by scoring a double and almost bagging a hat-trick with an individual 90m effort in the first half that was stopped by Bulls flyer Bjorn Basson.
The Bulls looked down and out for much of the first half and the Reds eventually exploited the tiring defence through a try to ageless flanker Radike Samo for a 17-6 lead a minute before the break.
But Basson, who also finished with two tries, breathed life back into his team by racing onto Steyn's restart, plucking the ball from out of the grasp of Rod Davies 10m from the line and strolling over.
Steyn missed a long-range chance to close within a point and then the Reds switched back on with a try from the top-shelf to Morahan.
Given quick ball from a scrum near half-way, Cooper hit the speedster with a pin-point cut-out pass and Morahan raced 40m untouched for a 22-13 lead.
In the sights of the Melbourne Rebels, Morahan finished another brilliant scrum move by Will Genia and Cooper in the 59th minute to secure the four-try bonus point.
As well as producing some scintillating backline play, the Reds muscled up up front and had the better of the bigger Bulls pack in the scrums and at the breakdown.
Queensland Reds 39 (Luke Morahan 2, Quade Cooper, James Horwill, Digby Ioane, Radike Samo tries Cooper 3 cons drop goal) bt Bulls 30 (Bjorn Basson 2, Danie Rossouw tries Morne Steyn 3 cons 3 pens) at Suncorp Stadium. Referee: Bryce Lawrence.
- AAP
