Reds hold off Brumbies

Brisbane - Loose forward Scott Higginbotham scored a pair of first-half tries off Brumbies errors as the Reds broke a three-game losing streak with a 20-13 (half-time 14-0) win in their Super Rugby clash on Friday.

After the Reds took a 17-0 second-half lead, former rugby league winger Joe Tomane broke two tackles to score a try to help pull the Brumbies to within four points with 12 minutes left. The Brumbies scored all of their points in the 10 minutes that the Reds' teenage flanker Liam Gill was in the sin-bin after receiving a yellow card for cynical play.

The Brumbies, who committed 26 turnovers, claimed a bonus point for finishing within seven points to maintain a two-point edge over the Reds and the Waratahs, who had a weekend bye, in the Australian conference.

The Reds lost their last two matches by large margins - 61-8 to the Bulls and 45-19 to the Force.

"Much better tonight, we stuck to our game plan," said Reds scrumhalf Will Genia. "We took a belting for a couple of weeks."

Wallaby and Reds flyhalf Quade Cooper, recovering from right knee surgery after an injury in the third-place match at last October's Rugby World Cup, made several darting forays on to the field, but wasn't back in the line-up.

Cooper, wearing a fluoro yellow T-shirt with "Water" emblazoned on the back, was the Reds' drinks runner for the night before 34 000 fans in the Reds' first home match in a month.

In next weekend's Round 8 action, the Reds have a bye, while the Brumbies host the Rebels in Canberra.

Scorers:

Reds: 20 (Scott Higginbotham 2 tries; Sam Lane 2 conversions, 2 penalties),

Brumbies: 13 (Joseph Tomane try; Christian Lealiifano conversion, 2 penalties). HT: 14-0.

Teams:

Reds:
15 Luke Morahan, 14 Dom Shipperley, 13 Aidan Toua 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Rod Davies, 10 Sam Lane, 9 Will Genia, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Beau Robinson, 5 James Horwill (captain), 4 Rob Simmons, 3 James Slipper, 2 James Hanson, 1 Ben Daley

Substitutes: 16 Albert Anae, 17 Greg Holmes, 18 Radike Samo, 19 Van Humphries, 20 Eddie Quirk, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Dallan Murphy

Brumbies:
15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Andrew Smith, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben Mowen (captain), 7 Ita Vaea, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Leon Power, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Dan Palmer, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander

Substitutes: 16 Anthony Hegarty, 17 Ruaidhri Murphy, 18 Scott Fardy, 19 Michael Hooper, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Zack Holmes, 22 Tevita Kuridrani