Queensland break 12 year drought in 'special win' after coach drops 'F bomb' in halftime interview

Harry Wilson made a dream debut as Queensland captain as the Reds broke a 12 year drought against the Highlanders in Dunedin.

Despite being the Wallabies skipper, Wilson had never led his state but stepped up big time in the absence of Tate McDermott, Liam Wright and Fraser McReight.

Centre Filipo Daugunu grabbed two second half tries to swing the contest after the Highlanders had led at halftime.

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The 29-23 victory at Forsyth Barr Stadium was Queensland's first in the southern New Zealand city since 2013.

The Reds are now 4-1 and second on the Super Rugby Pacific standings.

"It's very special. We talked about it all week - 2013 - and we wanted to be a side to rewrite those sort of history books," Wilson said.

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"And for us to do that, missing a few key players, the next boys in our team stood up and they were immense. We were pretty disappointed at halftime.

"We weren't good enough in contact, so we wanted to fix that, and the scrum changed the game for us really. They gained the momentum, really just gave us all that extra leg there and to get that win was special."

Queensland coach Les Kiss let a live TV 'F bomb' fly with his team behind at halftime.

"The truth is, if you're missing tackles and and having soft moments... it's going to make it tough. A couple of set pieces we probably would have liked to have won, But I won't f---ing just well, excuse me, I won't discredit them because they have been good," Kiss said.

In a scrappy contest in front of 12,610 that was punctuated by handling errors, the Highlanders produced their worst performance of the season.

But their downfall was the scrum, which leaked five penalties after the break.

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The problems appeared to be on tighthead Saula Mau's side, and replacement Sefo Kautai only lasted a minute before injuring his knee.

That put Ma'u under further pressure against Reds replacement Alex Hodgman, and as the penalties accumulated ref Damon Murphy sent Ethan de Groot to the sin bin for an offside offence in open play.

The Reds emerged as deserved five tries to two winners, which will leave the Highlanders with some soul searching to do.

Lock Fabian Holland, who was demoted to the bench this week after a cancelled flight led to a missed training session, was introduced after 46 minutes.

However, the momentum had changed by that stage and the Highlanders were dragged into a set-piece dogfight in which they were the inferior team.

The Highlanders found themselves trailing 12-0 after just 10 minutes as the Reds fed off their mistakes.

Returning fullback Finn Hurley endured a tough start, misjudging one long kick from Reds No.10 Tom Lynagh and dropping another cold.

Hurley was replaced by Sam Gilbert with 10 minutes to go on a back-to-earth performance after his two-try heroics against the Blues.

Captain Timoci Tavatavanawai led the fightback on both sides of the ball.

First he surged over from close range for a trademark try, then he won yet another breakdown penalty with the Highlanders under defensive pressure.

Despite wearing the No.11 on his back, Tavatavanawai popped up all over field and constantly attracted defenders.

The Highlanders followed his lead, lifting their physicality on defence, before big midfielder Tanielu Tele'a showed great footwork to score after a sustained period of pressure on the Reds' line.

Speedster Caleb Tangitau had another try chalked off before halftime, but not before the TMO had spotted a deliberate knock-on in the build-up by Reds fullback Heremaia Murray, which was deemed a yellow card offence.

But the Highlanders weren't good enough to capitalise in the absence of the Northland and former Crusaders outside back, being kept scoreless during his 10 minutes in the sin bin.

That proved to be extremely costly as the Reds used their bench to great effect, with Hodgman and Wallaby Lukhan Salakaia-Loto offering size and and experience.

When Daugunu grabbed his second try of the game with about 10 minutes to go, with the Highlanders down to 14 men at that stage, there was no way back for the home side.

To rub salt in the wounds, the Reds won yet another scrum penalty and coach Jamie Joseph will have to address the issue quickly.

REDS 29 (Filipo Daugunu 2, Kalani Thomas, Richie Asiata, Lachie Anderson tries; Tom Lynagh 2 con) HIGHLANDERS 23 (Timoci Tavatavanawai, Tanielu Tele'a tries; Taine Robinson 2, Sam Gilbert pen; Robinson 2 con) HT: 12-17