The defending champion Crusaders jumped into the Super 14 top four but failed to take full advantage of an injury-ravaged Queensland in Christchurch on Friday night.

The greenhorn Reds, missing 10 of their regular starters, were outclassed, outmuscled and completely outgunned in a 32-12 defeat on a cold, slippery night at AMI Stadium.

It could have been much, much worse for Phil Mooney's men who were handed a huge challenge and were terribly exposed for the first hour of the mismatch.

In a game of one-way traffic, the Crusaders secured the vital four-try bonus point which lifted them to provisional fourth place on the congested ladder in the 46th minute when hooker Jason Macdonald finished some enterprising play in the right corner.

When replacement back Sean Maitland scored the home side's fifth they led 32-0 with 20 minutes to play and had a ready-made opportunity to boost their for-and-against differential.

But to the Reds' credit they bravely fought back with stand-out centre Charlie Fetoai putting debutant Ben Tapuai and fellow reserve Greg Holmes over for a try apiece in the dying stages.

Tapuai and another first-gamer, halfback Richard Kingi, brought some long-missing spark into the Reds play when they came off the bench, helping to cut the margin to 20.

Coach Mooney was full of praise for the fightback, which would have also drawn applause from the Brumbies and Waratahs who were locked in fifth place with the Crusaders going into the penultimate round.

The Crusaders for-and-against jumped to +31 with the win but it was +43 before the Reds two late tries, which were rued by skipper Richie McCaw.

NSW (+20) and the Brumbies (-13) can join the fourth-placed Crusaders on 37 points on the table with respective bonus-point wins over the Sharks and Blues on Saturday.

"I thought the boys showed a lot of character in the second half," Mooney said.

"The Crusaders are hitting their straps and were very good in the first 60 minutes and at 32-0 it would have been easy for it to go the other way.

"We were outgunned but the desire is there in the young blokes."

Rubbing salt into the Reds wounds, powerful back-rower Ezra Taylor (knee) and prop Laurie Weeks (thigh) are in doubt for their last round clash with the table-topping Hurricanes in Brisbane.

The Crusaders dominated from the outset, completely outplaying the young and inexperienced visitors who attempted to stonewall into the wind with no success.

Fundamental handling errors in the difficult wet conditions were amplified by glaring mistakes in defence as the Crusaders ran riot.

Winger Brando Va'aulu was exposed on the right sideline twice in succession, leading to easy tries and a 20-0 lead after 35 minutes.

Back-rowers Thomas Waldrom and Kieran Read starred in the home side's stampede, allowing McCaw to ease his way back from injury.

"Considering the conditions, I thought we played some really good rugby," McCaw said. "It would have been nice to have finished them off but we got the five (competition) points and that's what we came for."

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