Reds torch Cheetahs but waste chances

Queensland warmed up for their highly-anticipated Super 14 grudge match against NSW
with a dominant 22-3 victory over the Cheetahs at Suncorp Stadium.
The Reds sealed their first win of the season with a three-tries-to-nil triumph but
they should have reaped far more points on a hot and humid Brisbane day as their
high-risk attacking game torched the struggling South Africans.
Cheetahs skipper Juan Smith didn't mince words after the loss, his team's 17th on
the trot in Australasia: "There's only one way to describe it, shocking from us".
Reds counterpart Berrick Barnes was also disappointed, frustrated by a host of
bombed tries.
"We killed ourselves in the first half in terms of that bonus point by not taking
our opportunities," he said.
But the win will ensure the competition's newest entertainers head into their
biggest match of the year, against the unbeaten Waratahs in Sydney on Friday, with
some momentum.
The Reds led 15-3 after a 55m Digby Ioane try in the 48th minute for a four-try
bonus point to be looking likely but their own poor finishing and a controversial
disallowed try took the wind out of their sails.
Lock Hugh McMeniman, in his return from compassionate leave, finished a brilliant
team try midway through the second half, but it was denied on a touch judge report
for a debatable Quade Cooper shoulder charge minutes earlier.
Five-eighth Cooper appeared to take opposite number Meyer Bosman out as much with
his arms in full view of referee Ian Smith.
The decision set the Reds back but they managed to finally score a third
five-pointer when lock Van Humphries scooted clear and sent Peter Hynes over.
Despite 65 per cent of possession, 77 per cent of territory and four line breaks,
the Reds only held a 7-3 lead at the break, and were lucky to have that as Cheetahs
No.8 Frans Viljoen dropped the ball on the line in the last play of the half.
The only other occasion the visitors made it near the Reds quarter, radar-boot
Jaques-Louis Potgeiter slotted a sixth-minute penalty for a 3-0 advantage.
Playmakers Cooper and Barnes pulled the strings dangerously but the home side failed
to capitalise on the helter-skelter style due to poor handling.
Brando Va'aulu was the worst culprit, spilling the ball with the line open after a
scything break from fellow winger Hynes.
The Reds tight-five eventually showed the backs how to do it when hooker Sean
Hardman, locks Humphries and McMeniman, and prop Laurie Weekes combined to put
fullback Mark McLinden over for his maiden Super 14 try.
In their opening two losses, Queensland had shot themselves in the foot early in the
second half but this time it was their opponents who lapsed, with a breakdown
turnover allowing Ioane to score.