Down 24-3 at halftime, the Highlanders engineered a stunning comeback last night - only to be tragically pipped in the last minutes.
This was cliche corner: a game of two halves. In the first, the Reds went berserk and the Highlanders moved like corpses. In the second, the Reds werezombies and the Highlanders ran amok, leading 36-31 before a rolling maul try undid them.
The Reds have been the great revivalists of the final Super 14 - a rebirth assisted by the world's biggest midwife, former Wallaby prop and former Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie.
Pilloried for coaching the Waratahs into a supremely boring side, McKenzie has turned the Reds into one of the brightest attacking sides in the competition.
Quade Cooper, at first five, was in devastating form last night, as he has been for much of the season.
Two stupendous passes, one enormous job off the left hand and the other a backhand flick that travelled 20 metres, produced tries to lock Radike Samo and deceptively gliding winger Peter Hynes. Cooper made three tries and scored one last night.
But their resurgence had nothing on the Highlanders' last night. Blown away by all this attacking wizardry, the Highlanders seemed gone after only 18 minutes, when the Reds had scored 17 points.
With the Reds well ahead, the game swayed after a big fight late in the first half, ending with lock Van Humphries sin-binned. It energised the southerners.
Early in the second half, fullback Israel Dagg produced a fine chip-and-chase try, prop Chris King burrowed over and Fetu Vainokolo danced through for two. Down 29-24, the Reds regrouped through Cooper and Hynes for replacement Poutasi Luafutu to score - only to be stung by a Jason Rutledge try.
A rolling maul promoted Luafutu over the line for his second try and Dagg just failed with a mammoth last-second penalty attempt.
Reds 38 (D. Ioane, R. Samo, P. Hynes, Q. Cooper, P.Luafutu 2 tries; Cooper 4 cons), Highlanders 36 (I. Dagg, C. King, F. Vainokolo 2, J. Rutledge tries, Dagg 4 cons, pen).
