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Brad Thorn's Reds smash Bulls in Super Rugby comeback

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

A remarkable Queensland Reds comeback has secured Brad Thorn’s team a 41-17 Super Rugby bonus-point victory over the Bulls at Suncorp Stadium.

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Having slipped to a 17-0 deficit inside 20 minutes to the South African visitors on Saturday, the Reds scored six unanswered tries either side of halftime to claim just their second win of the season.

A knee injury to young backrower Harry Wilson was the only negative for the Reds, with the 20-year-old limping off in the 57th minute with a suspected medial ligament injury.

The win appeared unlikely as the Pretoria-based Bulls came out flying in the opening minutes.

Halfback Embrose Papier opened the scoring in the eighth minute but it was the pace of the visitors’ outside backs which tore the home team apart early.

Jet-heeled winger Rosko Specman scored one before combining with World Cup-winning fullback Warrick Gelant to race to a 17-0 lead inside 20 minutes.

The Reds also copped a yellow card to Chris Feauai-Sautia during the onslaught after he was penalised for a dangerous late tackle.

With the game threatening to slip away, Reds’ skipper Liam Wright provided the spark when he crashed over in the 29th minute.

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Wright then provided inspiration in defence to deny Specman on the tryline before winning a penalty in the following phases.

His efforts were rewarded minutes later when Isaac Lucas got on the end of three quick offloads to bring the hosts within three at halftime.

The comeback was complete at the start of the second half when another excellent team move ended with Taniela Tupou’s flick pass releasing Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, who scored to put the Reds in front for the first time in the match.

Further tries to Alex Mafi and Harry Hoopert iced the win, before Tupou secured the bonus point in the dying seconds of the match.

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The Reds next face the Brumbies at Suncorp Stadium on March 27, while the Bulls take on the Waratahs in Tamworth next weekend.

– AAP

WATCH: Leon MacDonald joins the Breakdown to give an inside look at the Blues camp in 2020. This and all the big rugby news on your latest episode of the Breakdown.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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