TJ Perenara and Wellington Hurricanes race back to the top Super Rugby standings

The Wellington Hurricanes bounced back after suffering their first loss of the season last week to thrash the Queensland Reds 35-19 on Sunday and retain the lead in the Super Rugby standings.

The New Zealanders showed no ill-effects from last week’s home loss to the New South Wales Waratahs as they ran in four tries to earn a bonus point and stay at the top of the table.

Scrumhalf TJ Perenara scored his team’s opening try and also the fourth to secure the extra point, while loose forward Callum Gibbins and wing Julian Savea also notched touchdowns.

Hurricanes captain Conrad Smith said his team’s loss to the Waratahs had given them a wake-up call with the season heading towards the play-offs.

“You’d like to think that even when you win you want to look at what went wrong but when you lose, you certainly take a closer look,” Smith said in a post-match interview.

“There’s a long way to go but we’re pretty happy with things.

“We know we’ve got a lot of work to do, it’s a hard road home so we’re going to need all these points.”

It was also a return to business as usual for the Reds. The Australians had lost six in a row before beating the Central Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last week and have been beaten in eight of their matches this season.

Queensland did make a bright start, with Fijian-born outside centre Samu Kerevi scoring two early tries to give the Reds a 12-3 lead before things started to click for the Hurricanes.

Perenara and Gibbins scored within three minutes of each other in the shadows of halftime to give the visitors a 20-12 lead at the interval, which they extended with a penalty straight after the restart.

The Reds pulled back to 23-19 when flanker Liam Gill crossed but Wellington put the result beyond doubt with two more tries in a four-minute burst.

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