The depleted Crusaders have made it 12 straight wins over the Queensland Reds, who are again counting the costs of unforced errors in a second-straight Super Rugby Pacific loss.

The defending champions were missing a slew of A-listers headlined by David Havili, Sevu Reece, Jack Goodhue and Sam Whitelock.

But they didn’t need them, the Reds squandering early chances to build a lead before falling 25-12 on Friday at Suncorp Stadium.

It followed a frustrating loss to Melbourne Rebels, dropping the Reds to 2-4 this season.

Reds playmaker James O’Connor endured a night of mishaps that began early when his penalty kick for touch went dead in-goal.

Demoted as kicker for goal, he watched replacement Isaac Henry go one-from-three before resuming the duties and hitting the post himself with a late penalty miss.

He also missed a tackle for the Crusaders’ first try, gave possession away with some poor in-game kicking and failed to marshal his troops when the Reds did hold the ball.

Winger Suliasi Vunivalu was also quiet in a 60-minute stint but, ahead of Sunday’s squad announcement from new coach Eddie Jones, other Wallabies hopefuls did press reasonable cases.