A dream start turned into a nightmare second half for the Reds as they fell to a rampaging Hurricanes side 44-21 in Wellington.
The result pushed the Hurricanes into the Super 14 top four and the Reds out, with one round remaining.
The Reds had raced in three quick tries to go to a 21-8 lead by the 28th minute and were cutting the home side to pieces out wide.
But the young side became impatient and started pushing too quickly for the bonus point try before halftime, leading to a lapse that allowed the Hurricanes' Hosea Gear to score the first of his three tries, reducing the lead to 21-13 and giving the home side a confidence boost going into the break.
A minute into the second half Reds flanker Andrew Shaw was sin-binned for a lifting tackle and the Hurricanes immediately went up another gear - literally - with Gear crossing a second time and then a bonus point fourth try coming while Shaw was still off the field.
The momentum shift turned the whole game on its head and changed the dynamics, with the Hurricanes able to dictate terms rather than worry about being behind with the time ticking away.
"We had the scoreboard working for us (at 21-8 in front) and then a couple of things and we're playing catch-up," said Reds Head Coach Ewen McKenzie.
"They (Hurricanes) just had to keep kicking the ball down the other end and we had to make the play. That's how the game works."
The more the Reds pushed their passes in pursuit of the elusive bonus point for a fourth try the greater the chance of error and when they came, the Hurricanes pounced, adding two more tries before the end of the game to blow out the final score.
While both sides had their share of injuries before the game, McKenzie said the Reds' depth and lack of match play in some positions was exposed, although former Wallaby Radike Samo did well in his first appearance for Queensland.
"We never had enormous depth as it was, so we went to our depth and some of it worked and some of it didn't," McKenzie said.
"I thought Samo did a pretty good job on very short preparation. He hasn't played a lot of rugby but he stepped in and I thought he suited the occasion. I thought he did some very good things. He'll only get better for the run so it's encouraging having him coming in."
The Queensland halves of Will Genia and Quade Cooper also shone in the first half, one of several breaks by Genia leading to the Reds' first try to Scott Higginbotham and a Cooper kick through producing a try to Will Chambers.
In between, centre Anthony Faingaa set up a neat try to wing Rod Davies with a sweetly timed inside ball that the speedster finished off professionally with an arcing run away from the defence.
Davies was forced off five minutes later with a recurrence of his troublesome hamstring injury, robbing the Reds of one of the first half's most dangerous strike weapons.
Quade Cooper converted all three tries to take his points tally for the year to 158, overtaking John Eales' 1996 tally of 155 points which was the previous Queensland record for most points in a Super Rugby season.
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