The Bulls scored eight tries in a rampant 61-8 win over Queensland Reds in rugby's Super 15 Saturday, sending the injury-hit defending champion to consecutive losses in South Africa. Fullback Zane Kirchner crossed in the first half and the Bulls added another seven tries in the second in a dominant performance at Loftus Versfeld. Springboks flyhalf Morne Steyn had 19 points in a faultless goalkicking display. The bonus-point win moves the Bulls provisionally to the top of the South Africa conference. In Johannesburg, the Stormers clung on for a 24-19 win over the Lions to be the only unbeaten team in the Southern Hemisphere championship. In Australia, former rugby league winger Joe Tomane scored a pair of tries as the ACT Brumbies beat Otago 33-26, handing the New Zealand-based Highlanders their first loss of the Super 15 rugby season in the fifth round. In New Zealand, All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter played his first match since an injury wrecked his Rugby World Cup campaign as the Canterbury Crusaders inaugurated a new home ground with a 28-21 win over the Cheetahs in the Super 15 also Saturday. Carter took the field as a halftime replacement in his first match since Oct. 1. By making his comeback Saturday, he was able to take part in a victory which celebrated the Crusaders' first match in their home town of Christchurch in 22 months — an exile forced by the Feb. 22, 2011 earthquake that caused the deaths of 185 people. In Sydney, winger Tom Kingston scored with five minutes left to give New South Wales a 34-30 win over South Africa's Sharks and put a temporary end to a poor start to the Waratahs' Super 15 season.
