Match Details

Reds

VS

Sharks (SA)

16

Brisbane Kick off times: 7:40pm (Local) Sat 7 Apr 7:40pm (AEST) Sat 7 Apr

59

Listen to Eddie Jones' post-match comments

Listen to Sharks coach Dick Muir's post-match comments 

The Queensland Reds have been overrun by an incessant Sharks outfit who scored nine tries to the Reds' one on the way to a classy 59-16 Investec Super 14 victory at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.

The excellent AJ Venter and JP Pietersen punished Queensland mistakes to give the Sharks the early lead after home captain John Roe had got the Reds on the board with a powerful run.

But the killer blow for the bottom-placed hosts was two Sharks tries two minutes either side of half-time when Jacques Botes and Pietersen again crossed in the face of some woeful Reds defending.

With Queensland chasing shadows, Brad Barritt scored the try of the evening when he finished a sweeping move before tries to Waylon Murray ,Bismarck du Plessis, Keegan Daniel and a second to Venter sent the Reds tumbling to their eighth straight loss of the season.

Queensland has only been beaten by a larger margin once in Super history, in 1997 when it lost 48-3 to the Crusaders.

Sharks coach Dick Muir admitted he never thought the game was in the bag until deep in the second-half when his young group overran the Queenslanders.

"We had some pressure on us having lost two-in-a-row and we needed to come back from that," Muir said.

"What really pleased us is we've known all season we've got some really exciting players and we just haven't been able to really cut loose."

"We were able to do that tonight and sadly so the Reds were on the receiving end. I think they're far better than that."

But Reds coach Eddie Jones wasn't at all happy after the display.

"We're the worst team in the competition, we deserve to be where we are and we're not going to get better until we change our attitude," Jones said. "The supporters that walked out today, I wouldn’t expect to see them back.'

"We should be giving them their money back."

"We let everyone down today … it was pretty poor."

The South Africans' opening try arrived when returnee Clinton Schifcofske's kick was smothered deep in Reds territory, and from the resulting five-metre scrum, No.8 Ryan Kankowski barrelled forward before Venter dived over.

Roe replied for Queensland, when, from Quade Cooper's inside pass, he sidestepped through the gaping Sharks defence and barged over.

A breathless sequence of attacking and counter-attacking from both sides ended with a Reds penalty with Roe smashing through a vacant defensive line to briefly hand Queensland the lead,

Moments later Andrew Walker missed touch from the Reds 22, Steyn kicked into the clouds and when the Reds spilled the dropping ball, Odwa Ndungane picked up the pieces before releasing Pietersen who easily beat Cooper to cross for his first try of the night.

Then, on the stroke of half-time, the Reds, deep in Sharks territory with a second try beckoning, were caught napping when an 80m penalty trickled into touch and Botes finished off the move.

The visitors were quickest out of the blocks after the interval with Pietersen shrugging off the feeble efforts of Schifcofske and Nic Berry to ground the ball one-handed and score his sixth try of a fruitful Super 14 season.

Off a short lineout, Venter then should have added another when he let the ball slip from his fingers with only Cooper standing between him and his second try of the night.

But after a pair of Schifcofske penalties, the Sharks crossed again - one of the most attractive scores seen in Brisbane during a disappointing season.

A magnificent sweeping move down the right wing, following a break from Murray saw Steyn canter down the flank, pass to Ndungane with Barritt just managing to rake in his offload before diving over.

Murray added a sixth when, with the Reds defence all sucked across field, he sprinted into acres of space to cross with ease.

And Du Plessis, Daniel and Venter again sealed a deserved 43-point victory to keep the Sharks' playoff hopes alive.

Sharks 59

Tries: Pietersen 2, Venter 2, Botes, Barritt, Murray, Du Plessis, Daniel

Conversions: Pienaar 4, Steyn 3

Penalties: Pienaar

Reds 16

Tries: Roe

Conversions: Schifcofske

Penalties: Schifcofske 3

HT: 17-10

Crowd : 14, 443.