The Queensland Reds' inspired victory over Super Rugby's pace-setting Stormers has reinforced Ewen McKenzie's claims to be the next Wallabies coach.

On the eve of the match McKenzie was labelled either a madman or a genius by the Cape Town press after he made nine changes to the Reds lineup which had beaten the Lions in Johannesburg.

Local opinion probably veered more to the latter after the Reds comprehensively outmuscled the previously unbeaten Stormers for a stunning 19-6 victory.

McKenzie hailed it as among the best wins of his two-season coaching tenure with the Reds.

Once again, the former Wallabies prop showed he deserves to be considered highly as Wallabies' coach Robbie Deans' successor, producing a canny blueprint for the victory which saw the Reds discard their more flamboyant game.

The win took the Reds to the top of the Super Rugby table, consolidating their growing reputation as the real deal as they thrived in Test match-like intensity at Newlands Stadium.

Returning home with two South African wins under their belt, Queensland will now chase a franchise-record sixth straight win on Saturday night against defending champions the Bulls at Suncorp Stadium.

Only one try was scored in Sunday morning's (AEST) brutal encounter but the Reds produced a high-quality display to rattle the Stormers and take them out of their comfort zone.

With Queensland's young front-row more than meeting the challenge of the Stormers' hardened scrum and the Reds forwards dominant at the breakdown, Wallabies halves Will Genia and Quade Cooper consistently pegged the home side back into their half with astute, accurate kicking.

"I was very proud," McKenzie told AAP. "It was one of our best wins since I've been around.

"Tactically, we won the battle and physically we won it too, we did a great job.

"This was never going to be an extravagant game.

"In the address before the game, I likened it to a Test match and we were going out to play a Test match and every little thing was going to matter, and they put us under pressure in the set piece and things like that, but we were able to put them under more pressure.

"Once we got on the scoreboard we forced them to play and we had confidence in our defence and it did a great job."

The Stormers had conceded just four tries in their six wins going into the top-of-the-table clash but the Reds out-defended the kings of defence.

The Stormers sorely missed veteran No.12 Jean de Villiers who was a late scratching, with Juan de Jongh unable to have the same advantage-line impact as the Springboks centre.

The only area where Queensland's colours were lowered was at the lineout where they lost six on their own throw, as they struggled to communicate above the Newlands din.

Unlike the last-start 30-25 win over the Lions, Cooper brought his kicking boots, slotting five from six, including three first-half penalties to give the visitors the upper hand at 9-0 after 33 minutes.

They never forfeited it, and with Stormers hooker Deon Fourie in the sin-bin for a trip, Genia drew two defenders in from a 5m scrum to put Mike Harris over to close out the match in the 74th minute.

The pace of the game was such that Wallabies lock Rob Simmons rated it the fastest he'd experienced and also paid tribute to the play-making efforts of Genia and Cooper.

"As a forward pack we know that if we provide the grunt up front, our backs can run riot and I think the decisions that our decision-makers made today really helped us and put them on the back foot, Simmons said.

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