Match Centre: Reds 41-7 Waratahs

Reds 41-7 Waratahs, Suncorp Stadium
Scorecard

Queensland Reds came up with a five-try performance as they kick-started their Super Rugby AU campaign with a 41-7 win over Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium.

Waratahs started the game off with a brisk start when Jack Maddocks offloaded to Jake Gordon, who beat the cover defence to the corner for the opening try in the third minute and Will Harrison followed with the conversion but that were the last of the points for the visitors in the remainder of the game.

The remainder of the first quarter was total domination from Queensland Reds as Jordan Petaia offloaded to Seru Uru, who in turn found O'Connor before the Australian fly-half sent Jock Campbell over the line in the 10th minute.

The Reds got their second try in the 14th minute when Alex Mafi brushed away tackles from a couple of defenders to dot down and in the 18th minute, Filipo Daugunu touched down capitalising on an offload from Hunter Paisami.

O'Connor also kicked three conversions and a penalty goal as Reds took a 24-7 lead. O'Connor, who took over the captaincy from Liam Wright also slotted another three-pointer in the 32nd minute to increase their lead to 20 points as Waratahs' problems compounded with Izaia Perese sent-off just before the break for a dangerous tackle on Paisami.

Waratahs suffered an injury setback with Joey Walton limping off with an ankle injury and they came close to scoring their second try at the end of the third quarter but Tate McDermott put on a desperate tackle to chase down Will Harrison.

An evenly contested second half came to an end with Reds amassing two more tries in the final 10 minutes through Daugunu and replacement Ilaisa Droasese as they completed a 41-7 victory.