Fifty-two minutes of Queensland control was torn apart by three minutes of mayhem as the Stormers inflicted a painful 24-20 Super 14 upset.

The Reds led 13-3 at Suncorp Stadium and were poised to extend the advantage to 13 points when Julian Huxley lined up a kickable penalty goal in the 52nd minute.

But the costly miss, one of three by the goalkicker, gave way to three converted tries by the Stormers in as many minutes as the battle of the Super 14 also-rans turned in an instant.

The 17,866-Brisbane crowd was left stunned as the 'men in black' from Cape Town were transformed from storm boys into stormtroopers.

Until then the Reds dominated possession and territory and only had themselves to blame for not crossing the line more than twice in the opening half.

The three-try rout, sparked by bench weapons Joe Pieterson and Peter Grant, began with stand-out skipper De Wet Barry finding hooker Schalk Brits who stepped Peter Hynes to put No.8 Joe van Niekerk over in the left corner.

From the kick-off, Reds captain John Roe regathered and the home side appeared set to return immediate fire.

But a poor pass by Drew Mitchell to Mitchell Chapman allowed winger Jongi Nokwe to pounce and toe the ball ahead three times and win the race for an 80m try.

It put the visitors, who were terribly scrappy in the first half, in the lead for the first time in the match.

But they were not finished yet.

From the ensuing kick-off, centre Jean de Villiers broke away and interchanged passes with his winger and then found Barry with a superb flick pass which allowed him to put lock Gerrie Britz over.

The Reds were left shellshocked and they lurched from mistake to mistake as they desperately tried to strike back.

A last-minute try by Ben Tune came too late and it merely gave Queensland, who have slipped back to 12th on the competition table, a bonus point.

The loss left a particularly bitter taste in the mouth for the Reds who were hoping to appropriately farewell retired former skipper Elton Flatley, honoured by the QRU with a post-match presentation and lap of honour.

In the end they paid for their poor execution.

The match was only two minutes old when Huxley skillfully regathered his own "garryowen" before delivering a floating pass to Tom McVerry which was followed by two pick-and-drives for Rodney Blake to score his maiden Super 14 try.

Huxley missed the conversion but continued his hot start by charging down a clearing kick in the Stormers quarter which led to a Barry infringement for an easy Reds penalty goal.

But two successive Blake misdemeanours cancelled out the three points as Naas Olivier slotted a close-range attempt for an 8-3 scoreline.

The Queensland pack was ropeable when referee Lyndon Bray disallowed what they felt was a fair driving maul try for two forwards accidentally peeling off the front.

But the Reds advanced their lead to 13-3 in the 29th minute when a well-worked backline move and a terrific fend on De Villiers saw Mitchell race away for his third try of the season.

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