Reds front up to beat Bulls

The Queensland Reds turned on another lion-hearted performance to claim a 20-19 victory over the Bulls at Suncorp Stadium in their round 10 match of the Tooheys New Super 14.

The Bulls scored three tries to the Reds' two, but Julian Huxley's kicking, a dominant scrum and another determined defensive effort won them the game.

The Reds scrum, which was demolished the last time the two sides met, was rock solid this time around, despite prop Rodney Blake suffering the lingering effects of a sternum injury. Reds coach Jeff Miller said later the team had been looking to gain parity with the Bulls up front, but added "I think they (the Reds' scrum) got the points tonight".

Miller said the win was a tribute to the hard work the team had put in and the great spirit within the side, which had not always been rewarded in previous tight games.

"You can't question the ticker of this side throughout the year and it's good to be finally getting some payback," he said.

The Reds had suffered an early setback when fullback Chris Latham was a late withdrawal with a hamstring strain. But the late change didn't faze the Reds who launched into all-out attack from the opening whistle, aided by poor lineout throwing from the Bulls that gave Reds flyhalf Berrick Barnes plenty of ball to launch their backline raids.

The sustained pressure led to a try by scrum half Josh Valentine from a ruck close to the line, duly converted by Huxley.

The Bulls struck back quickly when pressure from an extended rolling maul led to a try by giant lock Bakkies Botha, converted by flyhalf Morne Steyne to level the scores.

Two Huxley penalties took the Reds out to 13-7 until the Bulls' forward power led to a second try, by flanker Jacques Cronje, converted by Steyn that put the Bulls in front 14-13 at halftime.

The Reds struck back when second half replacement Lloyd Johansson ran straight and hard onto a neat Tom McVerry pass with his first touch of the ball and broke a half-hearted tackle to run 30m and score near the posts for Huxley to convert.

The Bulls narrowed the gap to 20-19 when a smart kick through by scrum half Fourie Du Preez led to a try by replacement Danie Roussouw, leaping high over the head of Reds replacement scrum half Nic Berry to snaffle a favourable bounce and score. The conversion attempt failed.

The Reds were then forced to soak up several minutes of sustained pressure from the Bulls in their own 22 before finally managing to move play up the other end of the field and hang on long enough to claim a well deserved victory.

Reds' captain John Roe said the turnaround in the scrum from last year was due to a more determined effort from the whole eight and the dogged defence in the final 10 minutes with the Bulls hammering their line was an indication of the spirit and determination in the team, that had been rewarded.

"Hopefully we've turned a bit of a corner tonight," he said.

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