Category Archives: Brisbanerugby
Super Rugby Showdown: Reds Secure Bonus Point Against Drua
The last home game for the Queensland Reds saw them play an uptempo match against Fijian Drua. 15,623 turned up to Suncorp and were thoroughly entertained. A comfortable 21-12 lead at halftime was quickly gobbled up by the Drua with two tries in 8 minutes by Manasa Mataele to put them ahead 24-21. The Reds were reinvigorated to score 4 more tries for a bonus point 45-24 win, lifting them to 5th on the Super Rugby table.
Another Heartbreak at Ashgrove
For over 60 years, the rivalry between St. Laurence’s College and Marist Brothers Ashgrove has been intence. This afternoon was no exception going down 17-15.
We opened the score with an excellent try on the left flank, only to see our 5-0 lead evaporate 5 minutes later to the Blue & Gold.
It was the story of the day, leading for the large part of the match. With time almost up we defended gallantly only for Marist to score on the final buzzer.
Great to see plenty of Laurie’s old boys in the John Eales Stand. Traveling down from the Sunshine Coast, across from Singapore and returning from Japan 🗾
Western Gale Force Another Blow for The Reds
The Western Force has handed the Reds another close loss three weeks in a row last night in Perth, 19-14. What more do the Queenslanders have to do to cement their spot in the top 6? Discarded Reds players in the west outmuscle their former side with another technical performance proving the Suncorp thrashing wasn’t a blip. Saint Laurence’s old boy, John Bryant, replacing Fraser McReight, bumbled through the first half, dropping two important touches.
Two-try standout Carlos Tizzano was immense in an armwrestle with the Queensland Reds. 50 Super Rugby caps for the Wallaby back-rower showed he’s all class.
Tate McDermott Shines in UQ Rugby Return
On a balmy 23-degrees celcius afternoon of early autumn at the University of Queensland campus in St Lucia, a modest crowd watched a significant step in the journey of Brisbanerugby’s favourite son, Tate McDermott. In a flawless first-half performance for the Red Heavies, McDermott scored a try in classic style from a quick penalty tap. The boy is back, after the Reds’ second loss to the Western Force 14-19 in Perth; his return couldn’t come any sooner.
Reds vs Chiefs: A Thrilling Battle Overview
The Reds had their biggest home crowd of the season, with 14,438 of the faithful turning out for another cliffhanger two weeks in a row. Having lost the week before in super-point to the Blues during Super Round in Christchurch, the crowd were on their feet inside 10 minutes when Lachie Andersen showed what we had been missing since Round 4 with his return on the left flank, crashing over in the corner to put the Reds on the board first with a five-pointer converted by Harry McLaughlin-Phillips.
Chiefs replied quickly with a try to inform number 8, Wallace Sititi, and converted by the mercurial boot of Damien McKenzie, to level the score 7-all. The arm wrestle continued, and in the 14th minute, second-year New Zealand referee Marcus Playle awarded the Chiefs a penalty, giving McKenzie a shot at goal, basically in front of the posts; however, uncharacteristically, he pushed it to the right. Score remains 7-all.
In the 20th minute, Reds inside-centre, Hunter Paisami, gives his opposite number, Quinn Tupaea (VC), a bone-rattling tackle that requires the trainer to come to his assistance. The TMO deems it fair play.
The forward battle was immense when Playle awarded the Chiefs a try, which, on review, was denied due to several knock-ons. Under penalty advantage, McKenzie slots a penalty 5 minutes before half-time to put the visitors ahead 10-7. Another controversial decision by the Kiwi referee against Seru Uru denied the Reds a crucial 5-pointer before they went to the sheds. The Match Official has one look at it before the ref calls half-time to a huge chorus of boos from the crowd. Score remains Chiefs ahead 10-nil.
The entertainment didn’t stop with Conrad Sewell, who played fly-half for St. Laurence’s College up to Grade 10, providing his dulcet tones for the passionate crowd at the break (photo by David Kapernick @brisbanerugbycom).
The forward battle continued in the second half, with none other than Australia’s inform lock, Lukan Salakai-Loto (main photo by David Kapernick @brisbanerugbycom), snubbed by Joe Schmidt for the British & Irish Lions Tour last year; he will be first pick when Les Kiss takes the Wallabies’ coach’s seat from July. However, the Chiefs score first in the second half, extending their lead to 17-7.
McKenzie was under pressure and made a few errors as the battle intensified. The return of Carter Gordon also put a spring in the Reds’ step.
At the 65th minute mark, Harry Wilson receives the ball out wide from Gordon on the right flank, slips a pass (“the ball of the year“, according to Tim Horan in the commentary box) to Joe Brial, who goes over for a much-needed try. Converted by replacement half, Louis Werchon, to close the gap to 14-17.
A brain snap in the 68th minute by front rower, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, results in a yellow card. Proving costly for the Reds when it led to a double for Chiefs’ replacement hooker, Samisoni Taukei’aho. McKenzie adds the extras for the lead to go back to a 10-point margin, 24-14.
In the 73rd minute, a long cut-out pass by Gordon puts 19-year-old Treyvon Pritchard in a position to score his first Super Rugby Pacific try, smoking McKenzie in the process, to close the margin to 21-24 with the successful conversion by replacement halfback, Luis Werchon.
In the 78th minute, Sititi goes over for a double, breaking the hearts of the Lang Park faithful to extend the lead back to ten, 31-21. The Chiefs close out the match, and a chance at a home quarter-final for the Reds goes begging.
With three more weeks of Super Rugby Pacific, coach Kiss has to focus his chargers on maintaining a position in the top six. He said after the match that he wanted his players to stay cool, even if the referees’ decisions went against them (12-5).
Winners Are Grinners
After being blown out of the park in their last two outings, Les Kiss’ men finally showed the Suncorp faithful that they are genuine Super Rugby Pacific contenders. Having the Hurricanes put 50+ points on them at the Cake-tin, and then the Western Force a further 40+ at home, the Reds’ dressing room was a lot happier place to be last night after defeating last year’s premiers, the Crusaders 31-26, for the first time since 2012. In Filipo Daugunu’s 100 Super Rugby cap, he showed that he is a world-class winger, scoring a try of his own. Kiss said in the post-match conference that his versatility from 12 to 15 makes him a valuable asset.
16,000+ were on hand to witness two great adversaries throw everything, bar the kitchen sink, at each other in the muggy conditions at the Cauldron. The men from Christchurch opened the scoring through Vice-Captain, Christian Lio-Willie, in the 5th minute after both teams had been playing expansive rugby from the kick-off. Lang Park has been a favourite hunting ground for the Crusaders since their loss in the Super Rugby final in 2011. However, the ghosts of that era were on hand to inspire the Reds, including Digby Ioane, Scott Higginbotham, Jake Schatz, and James Hansen, as the Reds beat the Crusaders twice that year. Reds Captain Courageous, Fraser McReight, drew on that energy, having been a young schoolboy in the crowd that night. Ioane was proudly watching his former team break a 19-all deadlock in the last 10 minutes with a Daugunu runaway try in the 73rd minute to lead 24-19. Memories of Will Genia running away with a break to 50 metres out to break a 13-all deadlock 15 years ago to win the Super Rugby title.
How Good is the Game They Play in Heaven?
With round one of Premier Grade starting in Brisbane this weekend, we have already enjoyed a smorgasbord of top rugby from Paris to New York. France took out, back-to-back, 6 Nations at Stade de France, thanks to the boot of Thomas Ramos in injury time to defeat a spirited English side 48-46, that were coming off an 18-23 loss to Italy in Rome the week before.
(photo courtesy of Stan Sports)
Ireland won the Triple Crown by beating the home nations, after they lost to France XV, 14-36, in the first round of the 2026 6 Nations Championship. Italy were the surprise packet, knocking off Scotland 18-15 and England 23-18, also at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Wales finally won their first 6 Nations match since 2023, overcoming Italy 31-17 at Millennium Stadium 🏟
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the HSBC 7s in Hong Kong, the HSBC tournament moved to New York. The Blitzboks defeated Fiji 10-7 in extra time. The Kiwi women took out the Cup, 22-21, over their Southern Hemisphere nemesis, Australia. 🌏 Japan’s Sakura Sevens put in a credible showing; narrowly losing the payoff for 5th place to France 19-15.
The Super Rugby Pacific kicked off with the Aussie teams proving very competitive. The Brumbies defeated last year’s premiers, the Crusaders, in Christchurch 50-24; their first victory there since 2000. The Queensland Reds finally had a win, 21-6, over the Fijian Drua in Lautoka to register their first win in Fiji.
Premier Grade Rugby starts this weekend in Brisbane. Brothers are at home against Souths; Bond Uni plays UQ down the Coast; Easts play Wests at Bottomley Park; and Norths host Sunnybank.
Reds Holdout Fijian Drua to Remain Undefeated
Heading in to Round 5 of Super Rugby Pacific, only the Brumbies and the Reds remain undefeated. They face off against each other this Friday in Canberra to see which team remains undefeated for the 2022 season. The matchup between Tom Banks and Jordan Petaia at fullback will be interesting ahead of Wallaby selection. Petaia played a great game there for the Reds in his first chance to run on with the 15 jersey. Both in attack and defence he imposed himself as a real contender for the Wallaby role there.
An injury ravaged Reds held out Fijian Drua at the weekend, ironically, it was a Fijian in Seru Uru that saved the Reds from an embarrassing result. Up four tries to nil with 15 minutes to go it looked like the Reds were heading for a bonus point victory until the visitors scored three unanswered tries in quick succession. With less than 10 minutes remaining on the clock the scores were locked at 28-all before Uru reached over from a maul to score a five-pointer taking the score to 33-28 to the Reds. That is not where the drama ended as Uru stole a lineout off the Fijians on the Queensland line at the fulltime mark to deny them drawing level or even winning.
Coach Brad Thorn said, “For our team, a game like that can be a challenge because there’s space and there’s opportunities but you’ve almost got to rein it in a little bit.
“Keep your patience, don’t overplay – that’s probably how I would assess that.”
Uru’s (pictured above) standout performance has made Thorn’s job a little bit harder this week with the expected return of captain Liam Wright in the position Uru was playing. It’s really a good headache to have knowing that the Reds have depth and that the guys will really put in for each other when their chance comes. That depth will be really tested on Friday when they come up against the Brumbies that are also in red hot form.
Reds Bring Home the Bacon
The Queensland Reds have finally broken an 11 match hoodoo! After 7 long years, they have nailed arch interstate rivals the New South Wales Waratahs with a 32-26 victory at Suncorp Stadium.
Reds had a dominate line-out 
Reds are in again
Harrison’s sharp shooting landed another penalty goal early in the second half followed by Jack Maddocks slicing through a gap off the ruck to score under the posts. The visitors were now leading 23-19 only 8 minutes in.
A try to another 2019 Junior Wallaby, No.8 Harry Wilson, in the 64th minute that was converted had the Reds back in the lead at 26-23. Only three minutes later the Harrison boot equaled the score before the confident boot of James O’Conner took over, from an indifferent kicking display from Bryce Hegarty, to put the match out of reach with two penalties at the 75th & 80th minute mark to break the 26-all deadlock.
James O’Conner said after the match: “It was an awesome effort by the guys. We dug deep and obviously winning it right at the end was amazing.”
Though he admitted: “We were pretty scrappy… There’s a lot to improve on.”
Special mention for debutante Tuaina Tualima coming on early in the first half for Angus Blyth. He definitely will benefit for the hour+ he had on the paddock.
Brisbane Rugby.com 