Crusaders make it five wins on the trot with 57-29 rout of Queensland Reds in Brisbane

THE Crusaders have heaped more pain on Queensland Reds and flexed their title muscle in a 28-point drubbing at Suncorp Stadium.

Johnny McNicholl (L) and Israel Dagg were two of the Crusaders’ best.

Four years of blood, sweat and tears to rebuild the Reds so they would never again endure the shame of conceding 50 points at their fortress unravelled in an inept 20 minutes on Sunday.

The Mother’s Day Massacre at Suncorp Stadium left speechless the strong turnout of 34,010 fans who had roared the bold 17-16 lead at half-time as if an upset was taking shape.

Instead, the lame Reds crashed 57-29 by merrily feeding all the strengths of the Crusaders to concede 41 points in just 40 minutes across a shambolic second half.

At its worst, it was rubbish.

Rubbish kicking by Quade Cooper and Mike Harris, a rubbish kick-chase applying no pressure, rubbish positioning in defence by winger Jamie-Jerry Taulagi and a bunch of other errors produced a calamitous four-try retreat in the 20 minutes after half-time.

When former Reds boss Ewen McKenzie turned Queensland’s Super Rugby chumps of 2004-09 into proud fighters with rattling pride in defence in 2010, the dark days of 52-13 and 50-26 losses at home in 2009 seemed never to be repeated.

Sadly, here we are again and coach Richard Graham has serious questions to answer.

That the Reds reverted to one-out running, a string of chip-and-hope shockers from a desperate Cooper and tired defence in the second half was an embarrassing snapshot of how far the 2011 Super Rugby champions have fallen.

When Reds player masks were being handed out en masse to kids on Sunday, the big question was whether the Reds would play like the real thing at last or like impersonators behind cardboard faces themselves.

For the first half, Cooper, James Horwill, Dom Shipperley, Ant Faingaa and abrasive Ben Daley played in vivid technicolour with some of the team’s best passages of play this season, two excellent tries and a 17-16 lead.

Horwill and hooker James Hanson smashed Richie McCaw, high and low, to force a turnover. That’s the defence the Reds are known for.

The Crusaders punished the Reds on the counter throughout.

There was a nice hint of ruthlessness too when Crusaders halfback Andy Ellis was sinbinned and the Reds hit them with two tries for 17-10.

Harris put young Taulagi over for his first Reds try and Cooper dished off a delightful, delayed short pass to Shipperley for his first try since 2012.

There were early hints of the horror story that followed because Harris and Cooper both threw wild passes wide of runners as if team confidence really had been fractured by four straight losses.

To start the second half, the Reds were asleep when prop Wyatt Crockett quick tapped and crashed over.

The Harris cross-kick two minutes later was poor but was made to look like a freebie when the Reds stood and looked at it while fullback Israel Dagg’s chip turned it into a try.

Faingaa being fleeced turned into a runaway try and a Cooper chip kick turned into a counter-attack. It was a train wreck and Crusaders powerhouse Nemani Nadolo celebrated with an outlandish dive for his second try in front of his Brisbane family and friends.

Halfback Will Genia had steam coming out of his ears when he razed the Reds in one tryline huddle. It spurred some spunk in the closing minutes and a four-try bonus point but a fifth straight loss has left the Reds in 13th and deservedly so.

“We just did some silly things after half-time and gave up two soft tries straight away. It’s not good enough,” Horwill said.

“We didn’t chase hard, and stopped pressuring like we did in the first half for good results. Do that and a good side like the Crusaders are going to dictate.”

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Originally published as Crusaders make it five wins on the trot with 57-29 rout of Queensland Reds in Brisbane