Six-try Bulls beat Reds to top South African conference

PRETORIA (Reuters) - The Bulls ran in six tries to beat the Queensland Reds 43-22 in a high-scoring Super Rugby game at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday and stay top of the South African Conference.

The Reds scored four tries -- half their tally in seven previous games this season -- but only landed only one other score, a conversion from Lachlan Turner.

The Bulls are third overall in the standings with five wins from eight matches.

Winger Francois Hougaard scored twice in the first half along with captain Pierre Spies as the Bulls opened up a comfortable halftime lead but the Reds bounced back quickly with a try from Will Genia, who quickly followed up his score with an audacious grubber kick to put Nick Frisby in for another Reds try as the score closed to 24-17.

The Reds lost momentum, however, when flanker Adam Thomson was yellow-carded for illegally collapsing a maul and the one-man advantage enabled the home side to re-establish dominance with tries from Marcel van der Merwe, Burger Odendaal and Piet van Zyl.

The bottom-placed Reds managed another try from Marco Kotze, their South African import, but have not won in their last six games.

(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Ed Osmond; [e-mail] [phone] Messaging [e-mail])