It was a horror night in Brisbane for the ACT Brumbies after being stunned by the Queensland Reds 16-15 at the death and losing four key players to injury on Friday night.
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Reds stun finals bound Brumbies
A last gasp penalty from Quade Cooper gave the Reds a rare victory over the Brumbies at Suncorp.
On the eve of finals the Brumbies lost fullback Aidan Toua, lock Rory Arnold, flanker Chris Alcock and centre Kyle Godwin, with all four set to race the clock for the last game of the season against the Waikato Chiefs in Hamilton.
Alcock suffered a deep cut early in the second half and Brisbane surgeon Peter Myers was called out of the crowd to look at the injury, while Toua (ankle) and Arnold (shoulder) came off in the first half, before Godwin (knee) limped off in the second.
It was a poor night for skills from both sides and the Brumbies will need to be a lot better against the Chiefs next weekend, before hosting a home quarter final on July 21.
Brumbies skipper Sam Carter admitted it was a poor performance from his men after being unable to close out the win and pointed to the conditions for the handling errors.
"It was pretty disappointing on our behalf, we had a lot of opportunities to close the game and made silly mistakes at crucial times and only have ourselves to blame," Carter said.
"We tried to grind it out, play territory, play smart football, that's what we wanted to do but we just didn't execute it.
"It was a physical game and greasy conditions with a fair bit of fog around and it was tough up front but the Reds just got the better of us."
The Brumbies looked to be cruising when they scored two tries in four minutes to open up a 15-6 lead in the second half, but the Reds won a penalty in the dying stages and Quade Cooper booted it after the siren to steal a win.
It was a shocking start at Suncorp Stadium as both teams spilled the ball, typified in the 19th minute when Aidan Toua had to fall on the ball one metre from the line to score, but somehow managed to fumble.
The Brumbies had another chance to hit the score board just two minutes later with an attacking lineout five metres out, but lock Rob Simmons pinched it in his final home game for the Reds.
The first points finally arrived on 26 minutes when the Brumbies won the scrum lottery and Hawera slotted the penalty from 30m out in front.
The Reds struck back through a Cooper penalty goal on after the Brumbies were pinged for collapsing the maul from a lineout in the 32nd minute.
An early tackle from Carter saw the Reds add another three points just before the break and it was the home side who went into the sheds with a 6-3 advantage.
The tempo lifted slightly in the second stanza and the Brumbies were awarded a penalty try on 50 minutes when George Smith collapsed a rolling maul one metre from the line and was sin-binned for his troubles.
Godwin was gifted one of the easiest tries of his career when Quad Cooper inexplicably failed to ground the ball in goal before the Brumbies centre pounced on the loose ball to score on 54 minutes.
The Reds mounted a comeback in the final 10 minutes when sharp hands from Smith put Reds reserve Hamish Stewart over in the corner and Cooper slotted a sideline conversion to close the gap to two points.
With 90 seconds remaining the Reds earned a scrum inside the Brumbies 22m and played for the penalty before referee Brendan Pickerill obliged in front of the sticks and Cooper booted the winner after the siren.
AT A GLANCE
QUEENSLAND REDS 16 (Hamish Stewart try; Quade Cooper conversion, 3 penalties) bt ACT BRUMBIES 15 (penalty try, Kyle Godwin tries; Wharenui Hawera penalty) at Suncorp Stadium. Referee: Brendon Pickerill. Crowd: 13,264.