0
![Not allowed!](images/buttons/up_dis.png)
The St.George Queensland Reds have endured a disappointing end to their two-game 2012 FxPro Super Rugby tour of South Africa and will now turn their attention to regaining their winning ways when they meet the Western Force in Perth next weekend.
The Reds recent run of success against South Africa’s Bulls came to an end on Sunday morning courtesy of a 61-8 round five defeat in Pretoria.
The Bulls proved too strong at their Loftus Versfeld fortress to score their first victory over the Reds since 2009 after the Queenslanders were successful in 2011 (39-30) and 2010 (19-12) at Suncorp Stadium.
The Queenslanders must now regroup to face the Force in Perth on Saturday 31 March before making their return to Suncorp Stadium on Friday 6 April against the ACT Brumbies.
“The true test in judging the character of any team is the way they are able to respond to adversity and we’ve got a game against the Force next weekend where we need to right the wrongs from tonight,” coach Ewen McKenzie said.
“We let ourselves down with both our attitude and application so we’ll go back and reassess where we are at and make judgements from there. We can’t change the scoreline now so we need to go out and make a statement next week.
“We went into the game with an attacking mindset but it at times compounded our problems, especially when we began to chase points. We’ll review that during the week and learn from the experience.”
Despite the loss Queensland Rugby major sponsor Stratco will donate a further $2000 to the team’s Reds for Africa charity campaign as part of their pledge to donate funds for tries scored by the Reds throughout their tour of the Republic.
Their contribution this week comes as a result of Dom Shipperley’s second half try and adds to the $6000 they already donated for the three tries scored against the Sharks during the previous round.
Further adding to the Reds woes are injuries sustained to hooker Saia Faingaa (ankle) and centre Jono Lance (broken leg), who before going down in the 56th minute was arguably the Reds best performer from the match.
In his first starting opportunity and just second appearance in Super Rugby, playmaker Dallan Murphy showed enough composure at flyhalf to manoeuvre Queensland’s attack in the few attacking opportunities the team enjoyed.
Both teams took to the match with attacking intentions although it was the South Africans who made the most of their opportunities to lead 16-3 at halftime courtesy of a try to Bulls fullback Zane Kirchner and 11 points through the boot of Morne Steyn.
The Bulls continued their attacking ascendency in the second half while winger Dom Shipperley was the Reds sole try scorer, his five-pointer coming off the back of a linebreak made by fullback Rod Davies down the right touchline.
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
indeed. thats 2 Qld routs in 2 days (one day, really. just different timezones)
"12 Years aSupporter" starring the #SeaOfBlue