'Titanic' Queensland stun Super Rugby favourites

By Sam Worthington with AP

Queensland coach Les Kiss hailed a "titanic" defensive stand after the Reds withstood 23 phases of furious late attack to record a 25-19 Super Rugby Pacific upset of the Chiefs in Brisbane.

It is the second straight Reds upset over the high flying Chiefs, having also beaten them in New Zealand last year.

Reserve No.10 Harry McLaughlin-Phillips was the unlikely hero with the final breakdown turnover and the Reds now sit third on the ladder with the Hurricanes first, Chiefs second and Rebels fourth.

Watch all the action from the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season, with every match ad free, live and and on demand on Stan Sport

"We were riding it pretty hard really," Kiss told Stan Sport after the nervy finish.

"We're not surprised, put it that way. But that's titanic in a way, isn't it, to hold out the Chiefs in that way and you can see the relief and the joy from the guys."

The 2-1 Reds should have beaten the Hurricanes last weekend but were left heartbroken in golden point extra time. 

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"The boys were gutted but they just said 'what can we focus on next?' So we just made a commitment to say the next 24 hours, 36 hours, what can we do?'

"It's only three games and we will stay grounded," Kiss said.

"We have a deep care and connect for each other and have pride in our work on a daily basis. And if we stay focused on those things, things are possible but it is still only two wins from three games."

Earlier in Wellington, Josh Moorby scored two first half tries while Kini Naholo scored one and set up another as the Hurricanes beat the Blues 29-21 to stay unbeaten after three rounds.

The wingers profited from being on the end of a skilful Hurricanes backline in which halfback Cam Roigard and fullback Ruben Love were outstanding.

Roigard made line breaks on the fringe of a strong Hurricanes scrum and in the loose and Love stretched the Blues defence with kicks and long passes.

Both were also part of a strong defensive effort as the Hurricanes now move to the top of the points table.

"We came back from Australia with two wins under our belt and we went over there trying to accomplish that," Moorby said.

"Coming into this New Zealand derby we wanted to continue our good start this season so taking the win was massive. They're a big pack and they battled hard. It was just a massive effort from the boys on defence."

The Blues suffered a major setback when they simultaneously lost fullback Zarn Sullivan and winger AJ Lam to injuries early in the match.

The Blues chose a 6-2 split on the bench with six forwards and two backs - meaning they had no back reserves left after replacing the injured players.

Halfback Taufa Funaki played most of the match on the wing and backrower Hoskins Sotutu had to move to the wing when Mark Telea was injured late.

The Hurricanes stung the Blues with tries to Moorby in the 13th and 26th minutes.

Earlier, the seven time champion Crusaders were beaten 29-20 by the Drua in Lautoka.

It's the second year in the row the Drua have beaten the Crusaders.

The Crusaders have lost their first three matches for their worst start to a campaign since the inaugural season of Super Rugby in 1996.

Also on Saturday, the Brumbies rallied from 14-0 down to beat the Force 22-19.

The Brumbies are now 2-1 while the Force remain winless.