Reds face Bulls without Cooper, Horwill, Schatz

THE struggling Queensland Reds will come up against the Bulls this week in Pretoria without three of their stars.

Flyhalf Quade Cooper is out for eight weeks with a broken shoulder blade, sustained during Friday’s 23-15 loss to the Rebels — and lock James Horwill has been banned for one week for hitting Paul Alo-Emile in the head with what looked like a stiff-arm tackle.

Horwill, a former Wallaby skipper, pleaded guilty in his hearing after being shown a red card in the 20th minute. His sending off swung the game in favour of the Rebels. The Reds travel to South Africa with just one win from seven games this year.

Cooper fractured his scapula in his second game back for the Reds after recovering from a broken collarbone.

Loose forward Jake Schatz has been ruled out for at least a month after rupturing a tendon in his elbow.

Both Horwill and Schatz scored tries for the Reds against the Rebels on Friday.

In Hamilton yesterday, the Chiefs had to come from behind to beat the Blues 23-16 in an untidy encounter.

The Chiefs looked to be running away with the game when they were up 10-0 inside the first 30 minutes only to find themselves down 13-10 early in the second half.

But for the Blues it was a fleeting taste of being ahead which evaporated within five minutes when Aaron Cruden levelled the scores with a penalty, before Tom Marshall scored the game-breaking try.

Chiefs captain Liam Messam said he knew when the Blues put their nose in front that his side needed to regain control urgently.

“We tried to use our forwards to do that and we got control back. The backs made some great decisions to put the ball down there and put them under pressure and that came off well for us,” he said.

The Chiefs have now won six of eight for the season while the Blues have played seven and lost seven. — AFP