The Queensland Reds have fallen to their third-straight defeat, going down 27-19 to the Highlanders at Suncorp Stadium in Round 12 of Super Rugby Pacific.
Queensland led 12-nil early, before the visitors scored two tries in six-minutes late in the second-half to claim an eight-point win.
Jock Campbell, Josh Flook and Ryan Smith scored tries in the loss, while frontrowers Albert Anae and Sef Fa'agase represented Queensland for the first time since 2014 and 2018 respectively.
Highlanders lock Josh Dickson was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle in the 12th minute, before another yellow card to Marino Mikaele-Tu'u reduced the visitors to 13-men four minutes later.
Jock Campbell quickly capitalised, the freshly re-signed fullback slicing through the defence and dashing 40-metres to open the scoring for the Reds.
Josh Flook had Queensland’s next try in the 28th minute, the Nudgee product out-leaping the Highlanders' defence to seize a pinpoint Lawson Creighton cross-field kick and score close to the right-hand corner post. Creighton nailed the tough conversion attempt to open up a 12-nil lead for the hosts.
A devastating run by outside-centre Thomas Umaga-Jensen gave the Highlanders their first try of the night, bringing the score to 12-7 in the 33rd minute of play.
Mitch Hunt made the scores to 12-10 at the break with a penalty on the stroke of half-time.
A second Hunt penalty put the visiting side in front for the first time of the night with 30-minutes to play.
Queensland hit back quickly through Ryan Smith, who bulldozed his way through the defence to score his second Super Rugby try. Creighton made no mistake with the conversion to re-establish the Queensland lead at 19-13 in the 55th minute.
Scott Gregory regained the Highlander’s lead with a 61st minute try, before a Folau Fakatava five-pointer gave the New Zealanders an unassailable 27-19 lead with 12-minutes to play.
Queensland are on the road next round to take on ladder-leaders the Blues at Eden Park on Saturday 14 May at 5:05pm AEST.
Queensland Reds 19
Tries: Campbell, Flook, Smith
Conversions: Creighton 2
Highlanders 27
Tries: Umaga-Jensen, Gregory, Fakatava
Conversions: Banks 2, Hunt
Penalties: Hunt 2
