Australian Super 14 rugby heavyweights the Brumbies and Waratahs each got a nasty wake-up call in South Africa during a spectacular round which featured a glut of tries.

The Brumbies crashed to a 50-32 loss to the defending champion Bulls in Pretoria, while the Waratahs lost 27-3 to the Stormers in Cape Town.

It was the first away loss in six games for the Waratahs.

Both NSW and the Brumbies have started the season with a 1-1 record, along with fifth placed Queensland, who lead the Australian challenge following their 41-20 upset win over multi Super title winners the Crusaders in Brisbane.

The fourth Australian side, the Western Force, are bottom of the ladder with no points following their 47-22 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington.

The Bulls (10 points) lead the ladder from three other unbeaten teams, the Hurricanes and Chiefs (both 9) and the Stormers (8).

Porous defence and poor discipline were major contributory factors in the losses suffered by the three Australian teams.

Promising season debuts by new recruits Rocky Elsom and Matt Giteau couldn't save the Brumbies who conceded five tries and too many penalties.

"It's round two and we just got a pretty good lesson from the champions as to where we've got to get to, so it's now our task to try and get there as quickly as possible," Brumbies coach Andy Friend said.

The round produced a staggering 52 tries in seven games, including a tournament record 18 in the Chiefs 72-65 win over the Lions in Johannesburg.

"The breakdown law has given the attacking team a few more rights, so rather than being scared to run with it, teams are actually backing themselves and as a consequence we're getting more tries," Brumbies captain Stephen Hoiles said.

One team missing out on the try glut was the Waratahs, who have a mustered a tournament low of just two in the first two rounds.

"That's not a concern, it's something that you keep working at. Scoring tries is only part of the equation," NSW coach Chris Hickey told AAP.

The Waratahs and Brumbies each have four points, two behind Queensland who recorded a bonus point victory over the Crusaders.

Five-eighth Quade Cooper scored a Reds Super record 31 points, though the Reds joy was tempered by a season-ending knee injury to inspirational skipper and lock James Horwill.

Queensland will be out to record their first set of back-to-back Super wins in almost five years when they host the Blues next Saturday night.

That match will be at the first at the Reds spiritual home of Ballymore, where they recorded their last pair of successive victories against the Sharks and Cats in rounds 10 and 11 of the 2005 season.

"We don't get caught up in anything more ambitious than (winning back-to-back) really," Queensland coach Ewen McKenzie told AAP.

"We still got plenty of scope for improvement. There's plenty of aspects we can get better.

"It's a pretty simple equation, discipline and composure equals wins."

Force coach John Mitchell believed there was one positive aspect of the early season spate of injuries suffered by his side.

"The positive is we introduced Stefano Hunt, Joelin Rapana and Luke Jones to first-class rugby and two of those boys are only 18 years of age," Mitchell told AAP.

In two tight intra-country contests, the Blues beat the Highlanders 19-15 in Dunedin and Cheetahs shaded the sharks 25-20 in Durban.

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