Once again Australians are forced to defend another strong performance by this young Wallaby outfit that just could not manage to finish ahead of their opponent despite leading for most of the match. It is apparent that this team is very close to Australia's top XV that will spearhead our World Cup campaign; however basic lapses in this Tri Nations tournament belies the true potential of this cohort. Kurtley Beale has come of age and finally cements a spot in the 1st XV at fullback, allowing Adam Ashley-Cooper to make the outside centre jersey his permanent home.

Yesterday the Gold Coast Breakers suffered another heartbreaking defeat to Souths this year going down 31-28. Having suffered the same fate in May with their lead reeled in to lose 24-22 on that Gold Coast afternoon, a Quade Cooper inspired second half at Chipsy Wood insured Souths would repeat that success and overcome their heartbreaking loss to Sunnybank the week before.

Once again Queensland rugby is the backbone of Australian rugby stocks when the chips are down. As an adolescent I remember the Scottish routing at Ballymore in 1983 only to see it turned around a week later in Sydney with the inclusion of Queensland greats, Paul McLean and Roger Gould, ahead of Dwyer’s Ella brother preference of Mark & Glen the week before. Last year we at Brisbanerugby.com had been pushing Will Genia’s barrow when the Wallabies were getting beaten and we were vindicated with the match in Brisbane against the Springboks giving hope from a disastrous season.

As the sporting adage goes, “to make winning a habit”, certainly has resonance with the 2010 Reds. Growing up in the 1980s & even the early 90s we were used to the Queensland team being a dominate force in Australasian rugby. Professionalism brought expansion of rugby playing provinces that succeeded largely at the Reds expense, firstly with Ben Robinson moving to Canberra to lead the first ACT Brumbies side and Nathan Sharpe doing the same for the new Western Force franchise.

Something that was a hallmark of Queensland rugby sides a decade ago has returned with a vengeance to the Reds outfit. The determination to hold onto a lead at all costs with ferocious defence is what Ewen McKenzie has instilled in his charges and that was quite evident last night at Suncorp Stadium.

“Full credit to the players for pulling it off, there was plenty of character, a good game for the fans, another 6000 through the gates compared to our last game here and we are still alive in the comp.” McKenzie said.

Finally the Reds totally dominate a Super 14 match from the outset and never looked fazed despite taking the foot off the gas in the second half to win 50~10 over the hapless Western Force outfit. Inside centre Anthony Faingaa, playing his best rugby since arriving at Reds with his twin brother last year, opened the scorebook with a powerful try running off Quade Cooper in the 8th minute. The tries kept coming with Digby Ioane running in a double to go to half time 36~3.

After last week’s injury toll decimating the fragile Reds line-up on a limited scale compared to the Chile earthquake, the expectant tsunami to hit the New Zealand coastline was felt 6 days later than originally predicted. Down 15~nil after 11 minutes the Reds mustered what playing stocks remained and came back to upstage the hitherto undefeated Chiefs in Hamilton by 23~18 overcoming a 5-year drought.

After three bruising rounds of Super 14 rugby at home in Brisbane the battle weary Reds must rouse the remaining troops and head across the Ditch, like Caesar’s men crossing the Rubicon, to resurrect their season against the unbeaten Chiefs of Waikato who have returned to their fortress.

For all the hype of the “Back to Ballymore” match-up the Reds were just outclassed in the rain. A crowd of 15,681 turned out in torrential conditions to see if the Reds could put back to back wins, something they haven’t achieved since 2006, when they came up against an Auckland side on the improve last Saturday evening.

What a difference a week makes. Just six days after being pipped at the post by their southern nemesis, the Waratahs, which was a draining encounter the Queensland Reds repaid those faithful supporters backing up amongst the 17,880 spectators at Suncorp Stadium by demolishing a Dan Carter inspired Crusaders 41~20.