The Queensland Reds have surrendered the Rod Macqueen Cup, falling 52-24 to the Brumbies at Suncorp Stadium.
After a tightly contested first-half, a clinical Brumbies outfit ran in four tries in the second stanza to secure a strong 28-point victory.
Matt Faessler opened the scoring for Queensland, the hooker finding the line courtesy of a dominant Reds rolling maul. Henry converted to give the hosts a 7-nil lead.
The hosts were reduced to 14-men minutes later, with Angus Blyth red-carded for an ugly tackle on Brumbies winger Corey Toole.
The visitors capitalised with a try to Tom Wright, locking the scores at 7-all.
Tate McDermott defied Queensland’s disadvantage to score his side’s second try fresh from re-signing with the Reds through 2027. The electric scrumhalf collected the crumbs of a loose lineout before streaking 50-metres downfield, beating four Brumbies defenders on his way to score his second try of the year. Henry again converted to make the score 14-7 in the 25th minute.
Wright was yellow-carded in the 36th minute, but it failed to stop the Brumbies, Lachlan Lonergan finishing a rolling maul on the stroke of half-time to give the visitors a 21-17 lead at the break.
Two quick tries and a Noah Lolesio penalty saw the Brumbies jump to a 38-17 advantage, before Fraser McReight had Queensland’s third try on the back of another rolling maul.
Lawson Creighton converted to bring Queensland within two tries at 38-24, before the Brumbies powered home with tries to Rob Valetini and Nick Frost putting the final score out to 52-24.
Queensland travel to Samoa this week to take on Moana Pasifika in Round 8 of Super Rugby Pacific.
At Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, on Friday 7 April, 2023.
