Quade Cooper will miss three Super Rugby matches after being found guilty of a dangerous tackle against the Lions.

Quade Cooper will miss three Super Rugby matches after being found guilty of a dangerous tackle against the Lions.

Skipper James Slipper will return home from Queensland's tour of South Africa and Argentina after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in the Reds' disastrous Super Rugby loss to the Lions in Johannesburg.

Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore has been dropped to the bench with Andrew Ready set to start for the Queensland Reds in their Super Rugby clash with the Lions in Johannesburg.

A decision on the future of Australian Super Rugby clubs could linger on for another two weeks after a meeting between club chief executives and the Australian Rugby Union provided little clarity on what the future holds.

The Crusaders have scored their second last-minute comeback in a row, pipping the Queensland Reds at the death with a 22-20 victory in Saturday night's Super Rugby clash.

James Slipper admits it will be weird playing against Digby Ioane when the Queensland Reds host the Crusaders on Saturday night.

Queensland Reds coach Nick Stiles has reacted to an "atrocious" loss last week by dumping three players - including Wallaby lock Kane Douglas - from the Super Rugby team's starting side.

​Queensland Reds winger Eto Nabuli scored a hat-trick of tries, but it wasn't enough to stop his side suffering a 26-19 Super Rugby loss to the Western Force at nib Stadium on Thursday night.

The Waratahs played in front their worst season-opening home crowd in five years last week as bad weather bit hard on the turnstiles at Allianz Stadium. But the news isn't all bad, with TV ratings well up on last year after the first round.

Queensland Reds coach Nick Stiles hopes Taniela Tupou has learned his lesson after serving a two-week ban for a "silly" headbutt on Liam Messam.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika hasn't given up hope of seeing veteran flanker George Smith back in a gold No.7 jumper.

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Reports coming out of France late on Saturday night claim former Queensland Reds and Wallabies back James O'Connor and former All Blacks lock Ali Williams have been placed in custody in Paris following an arrest by plain-clothed police officers who allege the pair were attempting to purchase an illicit substance.

The Queensland centre says it's an achievement just to make it out the other end as legendary strongman Thorn pushes the Reds to new limits in the weights room.

The Wallaby great believes he's a superior player at 36 than he was at 26 as he prepares to make his Super Rugby comeback as part of the new-look Queensland Reds.

Ahead of the Super Rugby season, Tom Decent looks at five main talking points.

It's been a long, long time since Karmichael Hunt dominated a game of football.

Video footage of former Wallaby Scott Higginbotham's late-night police station incident is "quite telling", a court has been told.

On the verge of his comeback match for the Queensland Reds, Quade Cooper says his time in Toulon was far from a waste as he fed off the advice of a New Zealand champion.