What showed lots of early promise, faded into the biggest letdown for a long time.

The two teams hit the ground running with verve. There were three tries in the first seven minutes. It was festival stuff, but then they settled into the weekly grind and tries dried up. In the next 73 minutes there were not tries at all - not one.

Australian legend David Campese recently said the modern game is like "watching paint dry".

Saturday's Brisbane yawn was far worse - it was like watching paint fade over time.

These are two teams who once were winners. Once were winners, but not now. They did not play as winners, but when the final whistle went there was glee on the faces and in the gestures of the Blues as if they had won the Super 14 final.

They had not. They were playing in the basement and the Blues' basement performance was one point more musical.

The crowd at Suncorp Stadium seemed impartial. They booed loudly when the Blues kicked at goal and they booed loudly when the Reds kicked at goal. The expat New Zealanders booed Flatley, the Queenslanders Tasesa Lavea or, when he had failed, Isa Nacewa when they kicked.

The kicking was not of a high standard. The Reds missed a straightforward conversion and two regulation penalty attempts, the Blues also two regulation penalty attempts.

The scrums and line-outs were sloppy as was the tackle area. That meant that there was little continuity in the game.

Each of the first two line-outs for the sides produced tries.

The Blues got in first, from the very first line-out of the match. Tasesa Lavea hoisted the ball high into the Brisbane sky. When it came on Chris Latham - of all people - knocked it on. There was Rua Tipoki, who looked to have had a head start on the kick, to grab the ball and waggle off to the posts.

Two minutes later the Reds got their try as they attacked from a  line-out and Berrick Barnes beat two men well enough to be able to swirl over the line for the try. Flatley's conversion attempt swerved wide.

From the kick-off after that try, the Blues won a turn-over and went wide to their right, giving shorn Doug Howlett a run for the line. Latham covered in desperation but Howlett's, going low, just managed to squeak in for the try, which the TMO advised. 12-7.

That was it.

Flatley then kicked two penalty goals and Lavea one before Latham hoofed a soaring drop to make the half-time score 15-14.

There were scraps of ill discipline in the second half. Steve Devine stamped and caused the reversal of a penalty. High McMenamin punched and Rua Tipoki conceded ten metres for shouting at the referee, which action was further punished when Flatley goaled the kick to make the score 20-18 to the Reds with nine minutes to play.

Before that Flatley goaled and missed a kick and Lavea missed a kick, yielding the responsibility to Nacewa who goaled two crucial kicks.

Nacewa's first made the score 18-17 when Rodney Blake was penalised and his second made the final score 21-20 when the Reds used hands at the tackle/ruck.

For the Blues it was their first victory in Brisbane in this colour clash.

Man of the Match: Troy Flavell made an aggressive return to the Blues after his sojourn in Japan and there were signs that not all his belligerence has evaporated. Captain Kevin Mealamu was strong an effective. Hugh McMenamin was the pick of the Reds pack but out Man of the Match, not for the first time, is Sam Cordingley for providing the highlights in drabness.

The scorers:

For the Reds:
Try: Barnes
Pens: Flatley 4
DG: Latham

For the Blues:
Tries: Tipoki, Howlett
Con: Lavea
Pens: Lavea, Nacewa 2

Teams:

Reds: 14 Chris Latham (captain), 14 Henari Veratau, 13 Julian Huxley, 12 Elton Flatley, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Sam Cordingley, 8 Mitchell Chapman, 7 David Croft, 6 Hugh McMeniman, 5 James Horwill, 4 Mark Connors, 3 Rodney Blake, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements: 16 Sean Hardman, 17 Tom Court, 18 Cameron Treloar, 19 Tom McVerry, 20 Josh Valentine, 21 Lloyd Johansson, 22 Caleb Brown.

Blues: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Anthony Tuitavake, 12 Rua Tipoki, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Tasesa Lavea, 9 Steve Devine, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Troy Flavell, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Greg Rawlinson, 3 John Afoa, 2 Kevin Mealamu (captain), 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Tim Dow, 17 Saimone Taumoepeau, 18 Kurtis Haiu, 19 Anthony Boric, 20 John Senio, 21 Vili Waqaseduadua, 22 George Pisi.

Referee: JC Fortuin (South Africa)
Touch judges: Tappe Henning (South Africa), Matt Goddard (Australia)
Television match official: James Scholtens (Australia)
Assessor: Sandy MacNeill or Peter Smith (Australia)