OWN CORRESPONDENT, Brisbane | Saturday 2.00pm.
THE Queensland Reds overpowered the Cats 22-12 on Saturday to virtually guarantee their place in the Super 12 semifinals.
The Cats, who were tipped as one of South Africa’s big hopes in the Super 12 this season, struck back to square the match at 12-12 when substitute Conrad Stoltz and World Cup winger Chester Williams crossed for tries.
But Queensland fly half Nathan Spooner edged the home side 15-12 in front with a penalty just before the break.
He then added his second conversion of the match shortly after the restart to put the game out of the Cats’ reach when centre Daniel Herbert scored under the posts. Queensland coach John Connolly said he was not overly impressed by his team’s performance but was more than satisfied by the result.
”It wasn’t a great game and we were very flat … but that was always going to be a tough game for us because the nature of this competition is that you’re always going to have games where you might drop off,” he said.
With just next weekend’s final round of games to go, the only way the Australian side can miss a spot in the playoffs is if they lose their last game by more than seven points and a rash of other unlikely results go against them.
Written off at the start of the season after losing their captain John Eales to injury, Queensland have continued to defy the experts all year.
Their kick-oriented style of play has been branded boring but has repeatedly been effective.
Against the Cats, Queensland scored three tries to two and were always in control except for a brief period in the first half when the South Africans drew level.
The Reds raced to a 12-0 lead after fullback Chris Latham crossed out wide, then set up Wallaby winger Ben Tune for a touchdown soon after.
In the final round of matches, Queensland play the Sharks in Brisbane next Saturday while the Cats face the Stormers in South Africa the same day. — Reuters