Quade Cooper the hero as Reds emerge from the fog

Quade Cooper saved up all his magic of old to steer the Queensland Reds to a rare and outrageous win.

Reds players celebrate after Quade Cooper kicked the winning penalty goal. Picture: AAP.

Quade Cooper, desperately out of form, saved up all his magic of old for the final minutes of play to steer the Queensland Reds to a rare and outrageous victory over the Australian conference champions, the Brumbies, at Suncorp Stadium last night.

Down 15-6 with nine minutes of play remaining, the Reds scored 10 points in a helter-skelter finish, from a converted try and a last-gasp Cooper penalty, to overhaul the Brumbies 16-15 for only their fourth win of the season — one more than in their wretched 2016 ­season.

It was only their sixth victory in 29 clashes with the Brumbies, as they finally broke through to defeat their most implacable Super Rugby opponent. And in his final home appearance for the Reds — his 113th game overall — Rob ­Simmons broke through to win the Man of the Match award. How ironic if, with only one Queensland match remaining, against the Highlanders in Dunedin next week, the Wallabies lock finally found his correct position, blindside flanker.

The Reds were barely in the game for most of proceedings. Cooper simply could not provide the direction from five-eighth that they needed but right at the death, Queensland thwarted a Brumbies driving maul and won the turnover, allowing Cooper to turn the scrum ball back inside to winger Izaia Perese. The Australian Under-20 flyer angled straight towards the posts but was stopped just short by Brumbies centre Andrew Smith. The Reds still looked odds-on to score but Smith made it easy for them, flicking the ball back toward his own side as he lay on the ground, giving away a ­penalty — at point-blank range.

It wasn’t a pretty win, by any means, but Reds coach Nick Stiles couldn’t have cared less. “Who cares about how it looked,” he said. “In seriousness, we’re playing the Brumbies … top of the conference in Australia. I was really pleased for our guys to come back from 15-6 down. We’ve wilted in the past when we’ve got to those sorts of scorelines and I was really pleased to see all our young guys who were out on the field. It was great to win a tight game against good opposition with our next generation of footballers.”

The Brumbies may have paid an even higher price than just the defeat, with winger Aidan Toua (leg injury), flanker Chris Alcock (gashed thigh), lock Rory Arnold (shoulder) and centre Kyle Godwin receiving untimely injuries.

Brumbies coach Steve Larkham admitted he was more distressed by the defeat than the injuries, though he recognised that the casualty list would come back to haunt him.

“We picked up a couple of bad injuries there,” said Larkham, referring to Godwin’s knee”. “It’s the result more than anything. We played some good footy but they finished the game the way we wanted to, particularly in the last five minutes.”

The game became increasingly murky as the first half progressed, as indeed did the weather. As a thick fog settled on Suncorp Stadium, the players might have thought their mistakes would go unnoticed, but in fact there was just enough visibility for the ­modest crowd to realise how ordinary the game had become.

It took 25 minutes to open the scoring. Wharenui Hawera put the Brumbies into the lead with a penalty goal after a Queensland scrum collapse.

But Cooper soon negated that when the Canberra side took down a rolling maul and then ­doubled up after a Reds player was tackled without the ball.

But if the Reds were up 6-3 at the break, it took them no time at all in undoing all their hard work. The Brumbies dismantled the first scrum of the second half, bull­dozing the Reds scrum backwards to earn a penalty.

Captain Sam Carter wasted no time in pointing to the corner and from the lineout the Brumbies cranked up their trademark ­driving maul. The Reds were hurled aside, so much so that flanker ­George Smith dived into the melee to bring it down.

But that only made it worse — not only did referee Brendan ­Pickerill whistle a penalty try ut he then reached into his pocket and dispatched Smith to the sin bin — their 14th yellow card of the ­season, a neat one per match.

Sensing disarray in the home side, the Brumbies pressed down the left flank, as fullback Wayne Banks toed ahead into space. Cooper scurried back in cover and should have forced the ball in goal for a five-metre scrum.

Instead he lost it and Godwin was on hand to fall on it for a gift try. It was not Cooper’s finest hour, but then this — until the final ­seconds of play — was far from his finest match.

In last night’s other Super Rugby clash, the Western Force stated their case for retention in the competition with a 31-22 win over the Melbourne Rebels.

One of the two sides is set to be cut from the competition, along with two South African sides.

In a show of solidarity from two playing groups who understand exactly the uncertainty the other is facing, the Force and Rebels walked out together before the match in Perth to the tune of Dire Strait’s classic Brothers in Arms.

The game ended with the two sides involved in a sideline melee after the final play.

However, they soon came together again and formed a circle as injured Force skipper Matt Hodgson addressed the two playing groups.