A Tim Ryan hat-trick heralded Queensland’s drought-breaking win over ACT with the Reds running out 36-26 victors in Round 1 of Super Rugby AUS.
Ryan’s treble came in just 30 minutes and laid the platform for a 29-14 half time buffer before the Brumbies surged back to ensure a grandstand finish at Ballymore on Sunday afternoon.
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It took just 70 seconds for the Reds to open their Super Rugby AUS account with a Seru Uru offload giving debutant Vaiuta Latu space to square up the last defender and put Tim Ryan away down the short side.
The Brumbies quickly returned serve with sustained pressure in Queensland’s 22m eventually leading to a Luke Reimer try, Declan Meredith’s conversion putting the visitors up 7-5 after eight minutes.
Not to be outdone, the Reds pushed back with prop Aidan Ross delivering an early scrum clinic from 5m out to send Latu storming over for Queensland’s second major.
Latu, 20, shook off three defenders from the scrum base enroute to try town beside the sticks, with Harry McLaughlin Phillips left to add the extras for a 12-7 advantage.
ACT didn’t take long to retake the lead, Meredith making the most of a fumbled Reds restart and offloading for Pritchard in space to put halfback Klayton Thorn away and over untouched.
Six minutes later, Ryan ensured the lead changed hands yet again with his second try, courtesy of a slick Jock Campbell assist that put Ryan on a collision course over Pritchard and inside the top right corner post.
The Junkyard Dog struck again on the half-hour, haring after a Heremaia Murray grubber through the Brumbies’ line and soccering ahead to complete his spectacular treble.
A forward pass denied Ryan a fourth just before half time but the Brumbies’ discipline would cost them dearly with a yellow card creating space for Dre Pakeho to score Queensland’s fifth on the siren.
After leading 29-14 at the break, Queensland found themselves unable to control proceedings with ACT clawing their way back at set piece.
The Reds lost three consecutive lineouts and struggled to front up at scrum time as the Brumbies gradually crept upfield before Meredith’s pinpoint kick found Hudson Creighton for the visitors’ third try after 63 minutes.
Buoyed, ACT surged on and closed the gap again with 10 to play via Chris Mickelson from a rolling maul.
There would be a final twist with the Brumbies launching a 75th minute lineout deep in Reds territory but the comeback wasn’t to be as Queensland cleared their line, piggybacked two penalties upfield and rubbed salt into the wound with debutant Zac Hough crossing for a last-gasp try to deny ACT a losing bonus point.
QUEENSLAND REDS 36 (Ryan 3, Latu, Pakeho, Hough tries; McLaughlin-Phillips 2, Campbell cons) def ACT BRUMBIES 26 (Reimer, Thorn, Creighton, Mickelson tries; Meredith 3 cons)
